democratic
adjective
Simple meaning
Related to a government where people elect their representatives
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehmuhkratikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɛməkˈɹætɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Pertaining to democracy; constructed upon or in line with the principle of government chosen by the people.
Characterized by or advocating or based upon the principles of democracy or social equality
Exhibiting social equality; egalitarian.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Pertaining to democracy; constructed upon or in line with the principle of government chosen by the people.
Used this way, democratic is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics and ethics or values contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use democratic
- “Democratic government.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Other combinations
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Arising from use or tradition, as opposed to being created by a legislative body.
Advocating or supporting a republic as a form of government, advocating or supporting republicanism.
Having the supreme executive and legislative power resting with a cabinet of ministers chosen from, and responsible to….
Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more….
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A republic in central Africa.
A former major political party in the United States in the early 19th century.
A republic on the island of Ceylon.
A communist country in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula.
The older of two major political parties in the United States.
A Marxist-Leninist group that believes Palestinian goals can only be achieved by revolutionary change.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A member of the Democratic Party.
The action of making something democratic.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: pertaining to democracy
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.