theocracy

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the·oc·ra·cy

(thē-ŏk′rə-sē)

n. pl. the·oc·ra·cies

1. Government ruled by or subject to religious authority.

2. A country or state governed in this way.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

theocracy

(θɪˈɒkrəsɪ)

n, pl -cies

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) government by a deity or by a priesthood

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a community or political unit under such government

ˈtheoˌcrat n

ˌtheoˈcratic, ˌtheoˈcratical adj

ˌtheoˈcratically adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

the•oc•ra•cy

(θiˈɒk rə si)

n., pl. -cies.

1. a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme ruler.

2. a system of government by priests claiming a divine commission.

3. a commonwealth or state under such a form of government.

[1615–25; < Greek theokratía. See theo-, -cracy]

the′o•crat` (-əˌkræt) n.

the`o•crat′ic, the`o•crat′i•cal, adj.

the`o•crat′i•cal•ly, adv.

theocracy

1. a system of government in which God or a deity is held to be the civil ruler; thearchy.
2. a system of government by priests; hagiarchy.
3. a state under such a form of rule. — theocrat, n. — theocratic, adj.

theocracy

[θɪˈɒkrəsɪ] N → teocracia f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

theocracy

n → Theokratie f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

theocracy

[θɪˈɒkrəsɪ] n (Pol) → teocrazia

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

Yet absolute right is the first governor; or, every government is an impure theocracy. The idea after which each community is aiming to make and mend its law, is the will of the wise man.

View in context

They are the hieroglyphics of feudalism, succeeding those of theocracy.

View in context

Something is rotten in the land of Iran and maybe, just maybe, it is beginning to reach the point where people are wiling to sacrifice to replace the current theocracy with secularism.

The Iranian crown prince's speech

Her primary argument, which generated much debate in Pakistan, questioned the binary of theocracy and secularism to show that the secular state had, in fact, granted itself greater control in determining what form of religious practice was acceptable and what was not.

Academics, friends remember anthropologist

- Proxy wars in Syria between Sunni and Shi'ite powers ensued as Iran's Shi'ite theocracy with a Safawi ideology intervened on Assad's side whose Alawite minority in Syria having been one of the remnants of a 16th century empire based on Safawism (see the Diplomat's fap3Ja'fariLawMar31-14).

Syria - Part 4 - The Decision Makers

DUBAI- Iran's Safawi/Shi'ite theocracy faces Saudi Crown Prince (CP) Muhammad ibn Salman (MiS) who, APS learns, has become a "formidable enemy of Iran's axis of "resistance" in the Greater Middle East (GME) and the Yemen war.

MiS Hits Iran's Yemen Proxies And At The UN; Can There Be A Safawi-Saudi Blood-Bath?

RAWALPINDI -- The Quaid visualised the creation of an Islamic republic, but not theocracy. A K Brohi in his book The Fundamental Law of Pakistan discussed at length what a theocracy is.

Jinnah's vision of an Islamic state?

The Arab kingdom leads the 57-state Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) in which Iran's theocracy is the only Shi'ite member.

Pax Americana For The Arab-Persian Gulf - Part 61 - Saudi De-Radicalisation

The "Islamic Revolution" and Khomeini's theocracy also cancelled the monarchy's nuclear energy projects.

IRAN - Iran's LNG Experience

ISLAMABAD -- Former President Asif Ali Zardari has said that, 'Pakistan was envisioned to be a democratic, progressive and modern state based on parliamentary federalism in which there is no room for theocracy and religious extremism.'

Pakistan was envisioned to be a democratic, progressive state: Zardari

In this the PMF is accused of committing atrocities matching those of ISIS and thus adding to the Iranian theocracy's bad name on the global scale.

The Shi'ite World - Part 54 - Iraq's Safawis Match ISIS In Atrocities

When Iran's Shi'ite theocracy was set up after the Pahlavi monarchy fell in early 1979, the founder Imam Ruhullah Khomeini had warned that its "Islamic Revolution" could collapse if it was not exported.

Noun	1.	theocracy - a political unit governed by a deity (or by officials thought to be divinely guided) church-state - a state ruled by religious authority hierocracy - a ruling body composed of clergy form of government, political system - the members of a social organization who are in power
	2.	theocracy - the belief in government by divine guidance ideology, political orientation, political theory - an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation