kakistocracy
noun/kakɪsˈtɒkɹəsɪ/UK/kækɪsˈtɑkɹəsi/US
Etymology
From Ancient Greek κάκιστος (kákistos, “worst”), superlative of κακός (kakós, “bad”) + -κρατία (-kratía, “power, rule, government”) (corresponding to -cracy). The word was used, perhaps re-coined, by the English author Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866) in his 1829 novella The Misfortunes of Elphin as the opposite of aristocracy (see second quotation).
Definitions
Government under the control of a nation's worst or least-qualified citizens.
- Is ours a "government of the people, by the people, for the people," or a Kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for kakistocracy. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA