DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Ar·is·toc·ra·cy n.; pl. Aristocracies
 1. Government by the best citizens.
 2. A ruling body composed of the best citizens. [Obs.]
 In the Senate
 Right not our quest in this, I will protest them
 To all the world, no aristocracy.   --B. Jonson.
 3. A form a government, in which the supreme power is vested in the principal persons of a state, or in a privileged order; an oligarchy.
    The aristocracy of Venice hath admitted so many abuses, trough the degeneracy of the nobles, that the period of its duration seems approach.   --Swift.
 4. The nobles or chief persons in a state; a privileged class or patrician order; (in a popular use) those who are regarded as superior to the rest of the community, as in rank, fortune, or intellect.
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