kleptocracy
[klep-tok-ruh-see]
- a government or state in which those in power exploit national resources and steal; rule by a thief or thieves.
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Origin of kleptocracy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for kleptocracy
Contemporary Examples
Proceeds from its North Sea drilling rigs will insure corruption and kleptocracy on a Nigerian scale.
How about staging large-scale NATO military maneuvers at the border and freezing the assets of the kleptocracy?
Indeed, a condition of rampant, endemic political corruption is known as a “kleptocracy”—literally, “rule by thieves.”
But no political parties are immune to the infection of kleptocracy in Ukraine.
Europe, Stunned by Reckless Russia, Mistrusts Feckless Ukrainian LeadersJames Kirchick
March 24, 2014
kleptocracy
cleptocracy
- informal a government where officials are politically corrupt and financially self-interested
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Word Origin
C20: from klepto (mania) + -cracy
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for kleptocracy
n.
"rule by a class of thieves," 1819, originally in reference to Spain; see kleptomania + -cracy.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper