OLIGARCHY

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

A political system governed by a few people

Example:

the big cities were notoriously in the hands of the oligarchy of local businessmen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("oligarchy" is a kind of...):

form of government; political system (the members of a social organization who are in power)

Derivation:

oligarchic; oligarchical (of or relating to or supporting or characteristic of an oligarchy)