republic

[ri-puhb-lik]

noun

1. a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.

2. any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth.

3. a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state.

4. (initial capital letter),  any of the five periods of republican government in France.

5. (initial capital letter, italics),  a philosophical dialogue (4th century b.c.) by Plato dealing with the composition and structure of the ideal state.

republic

/ rɪˈpʌblɪk /

noun

1. a form of government in which the people or their elected representatives possess the supreme power

2. a political or national unit possessing such a form of government

3. a constitutional form in which the head of state is an elected or nominated president

4. any community or group that resembles a political republic in that its members or elements exhibit a general equality, shared interests, etc

   the republic of letters

republic

1. A form of government in which power is explicitly vested in the people, who in turn exercise their power through elected representatives. Today, the terms republic and democracy are virtually interchangeable, but historically the two differed. Democracy implied direct rule by the people, all of whom were equal, whereas republic implied a system of government in which the will of the people was mediated by representatives, who might be wiser and better educated than the average person. In the early American republic, for example, the requirement that voters own property and the establishment of institutions such as the Electoral College were intended to cushion the government from the direct expression of the popular will.

Other Word Forms

• semirepublic noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of republic¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from French république, Middle French, from Latin rēs pūblica, equivalent to rēs “thing, entity” ( rebus ( def. ) ) + pūblica public

Word History and Origins

Origin of republic¹

C17: from French république , from Latin rēspublica literally: the public thing, from rēs thing + publica _public

Example Sentences

Leaning heavily on Jeffersonian rhetoric, the Browns called on the “oppressed” populace to rise and assert “their natural rights” as “citizens of a free republic.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Former Soviet republics in Central Asia are displaying less fealty to Moscow, choosing to draw alliances instead with China and the European Union.

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A republic too given to democracy, they thought, would allow big personalities to leverage the public’s irascibility against established order.

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Another French tourist, Olivier Grondeau, 34, was released by Iran earlier this year after being handed a five-year prison sentence for "conspiracy against the Islamic republic".

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In Federalist No. 39, Madison defines a republic as a form of government that derives all its legitimate authority “directly or indirectly from the great body of the people.”

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