ochlocracy

[ ok-lok-ruh-see ]

noun

1. government by the mob; mob rule; mobocracy.

ochlocracy

/ ɒkˈlɒkrəsɪ; ˈɒkləˌkræt; ˌɒkləˈkrætɪk /

noun

1. rule by the mob; mobocracy

Derived Forms

• ochlocrat, noun
• ochlocratic, adjective

Other Words From

• och·lo·crat [ok, -l, uh, -krat], noun
• ochlo·cratic ochlo·crati·cal adjective
• ochlo·crati·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of ochlocracy¹

1475–85; < Greek ochlokratía, equivalent to óchl ( os ) mob + -o- -o- + -kratia -cracy

Word History and Origins

Origin of ochlocracy¹

C16: via French, from Greek okhlokratia, from okhlos mob + kratos power

Example Sentences

But few want to allow voters to write them: that would be not so much democracy, they say, as ochlocracy—mob rule.

From Economist

We will not carry on any further our picture of the ochlocracy, in which all social union was entirely dissolved, and the state was surrendered to the arbitrary will of a turbulent populace.

From Project Gutenberg

Oligarchies are unjust to the many, and ochlocracies are unjust to the few.

From Project Gutenberg

Their form of government was a near-anarchic form of ochlocracy, he knew—mob rule of some sort, as might be expected among such people.

From Project Gutenberg

Hence Pythagoras and his disciples, though they were vegetable-eaters, eschewed the bean as an article of diet, from its association with politics, demagogism, and ochlocracy.

From Project Gutenberg