monarchy

UK/ˈmɒnəki/US/ˈmɑnɚki/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,691 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: monarchies

A monarchy is rule by a royal family with a crown at its head. A constitutional monarchy, abolish the monarchy, the British monarchy.

In a constitutional monarchy the monarch reigns and does not rule, with powers exercised on ministers' advice — which is the arrangement in Britain and most of the surviving ones. An absolute monarchy is the older kind and is now rare. About forty-three sovereign states have a monarchy of some form. Note that the Greek means rule by one.

Definitions of monarchy

1nounmonarchyRule by a royal family with a crown at its head.B2+
“About forty-three states have a monarchy.”

monarchy is a system of government.

Where it comes from

Greek monarchia is monos, alone, plus archein, to rule. Anarchy, hierarchy and monopoly come from the same parts.

Ancient Greek
μοναρχία
Latin
monarchia
Old French
monarchie
English, today
monarchy

Built from

μόνος · Ancient Greek — only
ἀρχή · Ancient Greek — power, authority

From Old French monarchie, from Latin monarchia, from Ancient Greek μοναρχία, from μόνος (“only”) + ἀρχή (“power, authority”). by surface analysis, mon- + -archy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Crime & Law

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monarchy in the wild

On 30 November 2021, Barbados transitioned to a republic within the Commonwealth, replacing its monarchy with a ceremonial president.
Barbados
Some use the term semi-constitutional monarchy to identify constitutional monarchies where the monarch retains substantial powers, on a par with a president in a presidential or semi-presidential system.
Constitutional monarchy
There are conventionally two types of monarchy: absolute monarchy and constitutional monarchy.
Monarchy
Also in this period, the monarchy in Ireland eventually became limited to Northern Ireland.
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/queen of the Belgians, possesses no physical crown, and undergoes swearing in, rather than a coronation.
Monarchy of Belgium

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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