Noun
oligarchy (countable and uncountable, plural oligarchies)
- A government run by and for only a few, often the aristocracy, the wealthy, or their friends and associates.
1981 September 6, “The Eclipse of the Oligarchs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:It's an oligarchy because these families own and run almost everything that makes money in El Salvador. Coffee gave birth to the oligarchy in the late 19th century, and economic growth has revolved around them ever since.
2016 January 17, “Wealthy cabals run America”, in Al Jazeera America, retrieved 18 January 2016:The Itasca Project is just one example of existing oligarchy, and a surprisingly open one at that.
Despite the involvement of all classes of society, America's political duopoly and the importance of money to mass-market campaigning has established an oligarchy that is seldom responsive to the citizenry as a whole, when opposed to the wealthy or major interest groups.
- A state ruled by such a government.
The 1832 Reform Act aimed to transform the British oligarchy and allow Parliament to represent the interests of a broader range of the population.
- Those who make up an oligarchic government.
The modern British oligarchy—particularly during periods of Tory rule—has been called a chumocracy.
Translations
government by only a few
- Afrikaans: oligargie
- Albanian: oligarki (sq) f
- Arabic: أُولِيغَارْكِي f (ʔūlīḡārkī)
- Armenian: օլիգարխիա (hy) (ōligarxia)
- Azerbaijani: oliqarxiya
- Belarusian: аліга́рхія f (alihárxija)
- Bulgarian: олигархия (bg) f (oligarhija)
- Catalan: oligarquia f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 寡頭政治/寡头政治 (zh) (guǎtóu zhèngzhì)
- Czech: oligarchie (cs) f
- Danish: oligarki (da) n, fåmandsvælde n or c
- Dutch: oligarchie (nl) f
- Esperanto: oligarĥio
- Estonian: oligarhia
- Faroese: fámannaveldi n
- Finnish: harvainvalta (fi), oligarkia (fi)
- French: oligarchie (fr) f
- Galician: oligarquía (gl) f
- Georgian: ოლიგარქია (oligarkia)
- German: Oligarchie (de) f
- Greek: ολιγαρχία (el) f (oligarchía)
- Ancient: ὀλιγαρχία f (oligarkhía)
- Hebrew: אוֹלִיגַרְכְיָה (he) f (oligárkhya)
- Hindi: अल्पजनाधिपत्य m (alpajnādhipatya), ओलिगार्की (hi) f (oligārkī)
- Hungarian: oligarchia (hu)
- Icelandic: fámennisveldi n, fámennisstjórn f, fáveldi n
- Ido: oligarkio (io)
- Indonesian: oligarki (id)
- Irish: olagarcacht f
- Italian: oligarchia (it) f
- Japanese: 寡頭政治 (かとうせいじ, katō seiji), 寡頭制 (ja) (かとうせい, katōsei)
- Kazakh: олигархия (oligarxiä)
- Khmer: (please verify) អប្បាធិបតេយ្យ (appa’ tʰippa’tay)
- Korean: 과두제(寡頭制) (gwaduje)
- Kyrgyz: олигархия (oligarhiya)
- Latin: oligarchia f
- Latvian: oligarhija f
- Lithuanian: oligarchija f
- Macedonian: олигархија f (oligarhija)
- Maori: mana tokoiti
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: oligarki n, fåmannsvelde
- Nynorsk: oligarki n, fåmannsvelde
- Persian: الیگارشی (oligârši)
- Polish: oligarchia (pl) f
- Portuguese: oligarquia (pt) f
- Romanian: oligarhie (ro) f
- Russian: олига́рхия (ru) f (oligárxija)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: олига̀рхија f
- Roman: oligàrhija (sh) f
- Slovak: oligarchia f
- Slovene: oligarhija (sl) f
- Spanish: oligarquía (es) f
- Swedish: oligarki (sv) n, fåmannavälde n
- Tagalog: untipunuan, oligarkiya
- Tajik: олигархия (oligarxiya)
- Thai: คณาธิปไตย (th) (ká-naa-tí-bpà-dtai)
- Turkish: oligarşi (tr)
- Turkmen: oligarhiýa
- Ukrainian: олігархі́я (uk) f (oliharxíja)
- Uzbek: oligarxiya (uz)
- Yiddish: אָליגאַרכיע f (oligarkhye)
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those who make up an oligarchic government
state ruled by such a government