Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for republic

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. Compare First Republic, Second Republic, Third Republic, Fourth Republic, Fifth Republic.
  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

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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 democracyare 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.
Discover More

Other Words From

  • semi·re·public noun
Discover More

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
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of republic1

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

Example Sentences

Strictly speaking, the missiles belonged to the Soviet Union, not to its newly independent former republics.

From BBC

The federal bureaucracy “represents an existential threat to our republic,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in the Journal.

From BBC

Herding is the backbone of the economy in the breakaway republic, an autonomous region of Somalia, employing 70% of the population and providing 30% of gross domestic product.

In a statement, police said their probe "found the existence of a criminal organisation that acted in a coordinated manner, in 2022, in an attempt to keep the then president of the republic in power".

From BBC

Elinson suggests that Americans “have failed to understand that the relative porousness of our parties—the very feature that drives internal party conflict—has helped to safeguard our republic…”

From Salon

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement