The Collaborative International Dictionary
Democracy \De*moc"ra*cy\ (d[-e]*m[o^]k"r[.a]*s[y^]), n.; pl. Democracies (d[-e]*m[o^]k"r[.a]*s[i^]z). [F. d['e]mocratie, fr. Gr. dhmokrati`a; dh^mos the people + kratei^n to be strong, to rule, kra`tos strength.]
Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people.
Government by popular representation; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but is indirectly exercised through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed; a constitutional representative government; a republic.
Collectively, the people, regarded as the source of government.
--Milton.The principles and policy of the Democratic party, so called. [U.S.]
Wiktionary
n. (plural of democracy English)
Usage examples of "democracies".
The democracies had shown themselves impotent against the spread of Bolshevist parties, they said.
It was to support this reactionary, bluffing, bigoted dictatorship that the democracies embarked on the Second World War.
Our soldiers man for man proved superior to the best the democracies had.
So all the Greek cities are now democracies in name but oligarchies in fact.
Somehow half of the tin and a third of the rubber that the democracies used came out, of this mess.
Basically, today, we are still caught between the liberal epicureanism of the western democracies, and the radical atheism of the eastern Bolsheviki.
Though mounted in chatterbox democracies, the great attack was being kept as secret as the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor.
For otherwise the decadent democracies will pretend holy horror at Germany's special measures against the Jews, should they find out, though they have no use for the Jews themselves.
Given that there are no true democracies in the Arab world (although some, such as Yemen, Lebanon, and Jordan, are making progress in that direction), it may be surprising that public opinion can have an impact on Arab governments.
Perversely, it is precisely because these states are not democracies that their governments have become so sensitive to the public tenor.
And all the co-ops are businesses—small democracies devoted to some work of other, all needing capital.
And all the co-ops are businesses-small democracies devoted to some work of other, all needing capital.