meritocracy
[mer-i-tok-ruh-see]
- an elite group of people whose progress is based on ability and talent rather than on class privilege or wealth.
- a system in which such persons are rewarded and advanced: The dean believes the educational system should be a meritocracy.
- leadership by able and talented persons.
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Origin of meritocracy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for meritocratic
Contemporary Examples
The biggest problem with meritocratic thinking is its obsession with who has earned what.
But it was first and foremost an attempt to wake up America from the torpor of the daily grind under its meritocratic overlords.
But her model for meritocratic social mobility was predicated upon the value of cutthroat individualism.
The grandes écoles, the most influential schools, are meant to train a meritocratic elite, and have rigid admission standards.
Death in New York of French Educator Richard Descoings Treated as SuspiciousChristopher Dickey
April 4, 2012
meritocracy
- rule by persons chosen not because of birth or wealth, but for their superior talents or intellect
- the persons constituting such a group
- a social system formed on such a basis
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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 meritocratic
meritocracy
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
meritocracy
[(mer-i-tok-ruh-see)]
A government or society in which citizens who display superior achievement are rewarded with positions of leadership. In a meritocracy, all citizens have the opportunity to be recognized and advanced in proportion to their abilities and accomplishments. The ideal of meritocracy has become controversial because of its association with the use of tests of intellectual ability, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, to regulate admissions to elite colleges and universities. Many contend that an individual's performance on these tests reflects his or her social class and family environment more than ability.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.