monarchy

From Old French monarchie, from Late Latin monarchia, from Ancient Greek μοναρχία (monarkhía), from μόνος (mónos, “only”) + ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “power, authority”). By surface analysis, mon- (“one, single”) +‎ -archy (“rule, command”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒnəki/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑnɚki/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: mon‧ar‧chy

monarchy (countable and uncountable, plural monarchies)

1. A government in which sovereignty is embodied within a single, today usually hereditary head of state (whether as a figurehead or as a powerful ruler).

   An absolute monarchy is a monarchy where the monarch is legally the ultimate authority in all temporal matters.

   A constitutional monarchy is a monarchy in which the monarch's power is legally constrained, ranging from where minor concessions have been made to appease certain factions to where the monarch is a figurehead with all real power in the hands of a legislative body.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i:

     He that with ſhepheards and a litle ſpoyle,
     Durſt in diſdaine of wrong and tyrannie,
     Defend his freedome gainſt a Monarchie:
     What will he doe ſupported by a king?

2. The territory ruled over by a monarch; a kingdom.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     What scourge for perjury / Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?

3. A form of government where sovereignty is embodied by a single ruler in a state and his high aristocracy representing their separate divided lands within the state and their low aristocracy representing their separate divided fiefs.
4. States based on a system of governance headed by a king or a queen.

Historically refers to a wide variety of systems with a single, nominally absolute ruler (compare autocracy, dictatorship), today primarily refers to and connotes a traditional, hereditary position, often with mainly symbolic power. Typically used of rulers who use the terms king/queen or emperor/empress.

• (rule): See Thesaurus:government
• (state): kingdom

• See Thesaurus:government

• monarch
• monarchic

• Category:en:Monarchy

• nomarchy

• IPA^(key): /mɔˈnar.xɨ/
• Rhymes: -arxɨ
• Syllabification: mo‧nar‧chy

monarchy

1. genitive singular of monarcha