aristocracy

1. A hereditary ruling class; nobility.
2. 1. Government by a ruling class.
   2. A state or country having this form of government.
3. 1. Government by the citizens deemed to be best qualified to lead.
   2. A state having such a government.
4. A group or class considered superior to others.

[Late Latin aristocratia, government by the best, from Greek aristokratiā : aristos, best + -kratiā, -cracy..]

noun

People of the highest social level: blue blood, crème de la crème, elite, flower, gentility, gentry, nobility, patriciate, quality, society, upper class, who's who. Informal upper crust. See over/under.

Definition: privileged class, government
Antonyms: commoners, plebites, proletariat

Rule by the best. The basis upon which the best are to be identified or chosen may be variously specified; for example, fitness to govern may be assessed in technical, meritocratic terms, or in historical, or dynastic ways. Since, by definition, the best are a select group, the distinction between aristocracy and oligarchy may become blurred, and oligarchy has often been presented as a corrupt form of aristocracy.

— Andrew Reeve

For more information on aristocracy, visit Britannica.com.

A vague term, derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning the rule of the best. It is broader than peerage or even nobility. In common parlance it was usually taken to mean the upper classes or ‘betters’, but was confined largely to landowners. The ‘golden age’ of aristocracy was between 1688 and 1832, with the monarchy safely limited yet the threat of democracy still distant. Its legacy was the parks and country houses, such as Belton (1685), Petworth (1690), Chatsworth (1696), Castle Howard (1700), Woburn (1747), Harewood (1759), and Heveningham (1778).

The Greek word means ‘rule of the best’, and originally denoted government by the hereditary nobility. At Athens, before the rise of democracy (‘rule of the people’) the land-owning nobles were the ruling class of the city-state, prominent by birth, wealth, and personal prowess (see EUPATRIDAE). They governed the state through a council (see AREOPAGUS) whose authority was unchallenged. After the eighth century BC society changed throughout Greece, and wealth, not birth, became the criterion for power. As a consequence the councils which governed city-states were gradually reconstituted to admit these people (for Athens, see SOLON and BOULE), and non-aristocrats rose to the same political levels as the nobles. Aristocracy in Greece often developed into oligarchy, but for a long time aristocratic families dominated political life. Sparta and Thessaly remained strongly aristocratic throughout the classical period. The poems of Theognis (of Megara) show the views of an aristocrat alarmed by the effect of wealth in disturbing the old social and political order, while the odes of the Theban poet Pindar reflect some of the ideals of the aristocratic life. For aristocracy at Rome see REPUBLIC.

Rule by a privileged class. In classical Greece an appealing alternative to monarchy, the rule of one person, or democracy, rule by the mob. The aristocracy is defended also by Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France as the repository of tradition, honour, responsibility and education, dedicated to stability and the guardian of necessary virtues that have stood the test of time. In the contemporary world, similar claims are made for CEO's, company directors, and retired judges and civil servants of the right kind.

A privileged, primarily hereditary ruling class, or a form of government controlled by such an elite.

n.

Government by the best men. (In this sense the word is obsolete; so is that kind of government.) Fellows that wear downy hats and clean shirts -- guilty of education and suspected of bank accounts.

Quotes:

"Nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order. It is the Corinthian capital of polished society." - Edmund Burke

"Real nobility is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference." - Albert Camus

"Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiority s, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third." - Vicomte De Chateaubriand

"A fully equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts, and dukes are just as great a terror -- and they last longer." - David Lloyd George

"All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast." - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"I have known a German Prince with more titles than subjects, and a Spanish nobleman with more names than shirts." - Oliver Goldsmith

See more famous quotes about Aristocracy

For the social class, see Aristocracy (class).

For other uses, see Aristocrat.

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Aristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens and leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number. This form of government was used commonly in ancient Greece, as well as monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny, and democracy in Athens.

Aristocracies have most often been hereditary plutocracies. They sometimes include a monarch who although a member of the aristocracy, rules over it as well as over the rest of society. The term "aristocracy" is derived from the Greek language aristokratia, meaning 'the rule of the best'.^[1] See Aristocracy for the historical roots of the term.

Notes

1. ^ The Oxford Companion to British History, John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 9780198661764

References

• History, John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 9780198661764

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - aristokrati, adel

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    landadelen

Nederlands (Dutch)
aristocratie, adel, hooggeborenen, aristocraten

Français (French)
n. - aristocratie

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    hobereaux

Deutsch (German)
n. - Aristokratie

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    Landadel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αριστοκρατία, αριστοκρατικό πολίτευμα

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    αριστοκράτες γαιοκτήμονες

Italiano (Italian)
aristocrazia

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    nobiltà terriera

Português (Portuguese)
n. - aristocracia (f), nobreza (f), classe (f) privilegiada, governo (m) da elite

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    aristocracia rural

Русский (Russian)
аристократия, знать

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    земельная аристократия

Español (Spanish)
n. - aristocracia

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    aristocracia campesina, nobleza provinciana

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - aristokrati

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
贵族, 上层社会, 特权阶级, 贵族的统治

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 貴族, 上層社會, 特權階級, 貴族的統治

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 귀족[정치], 거드름 피움

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 貴族政治, 貴族, 貴族階級, 一流の人々

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    地主階級社会

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أرستوقراطيه, طبقه عاليه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אצולה, אריסטוקרטיה‬

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