different between government vs pornocracy

English

Alternative forms

• (nonstandard) gub'mint, gubmint, gummint, gubbamint, guvmint, guvment, gumment, guv'ment, guv'mint, gubbermint, gubment, gub'ment, govermint, guvverment, guvvermint, guverment, guvermint

Etymology

From Middle English governement, from Old French governement (modern French gouvernement), from governer (see govern) + -ment.

Morphologically govern +? -ment

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???v?(n)m?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???v?(n)m?nt/
• Hyphenation: gov?ern?ment

Noun

government (countable and uncountable, plural governments)

1. The body with the power to make and/or enforce laws to control a country, land area, people or organization.

   British government has historically centred exclusively on London.
2. (grammar, linguistics) The relationship between a word and its dependents.
3. The state and its administration viewed as the ruling political power.
4. (uncountable) The management or control of a system.
5. The tenure of a chief of state.

Usage notes

In the United States, "government" is considered to be divided into three branches; the legislature (the House of Representatives and the Senate) which makes law, the Administration (under the President) which runs sections of government within the law, and the Courts, which adjudicate on matters of the law. This is a much wider meaning of "government" than exists in other countries where the term "government" means the ruling political force of the prime minister and his/her cabinet ministers (what Americans would call the Administration). In Britain, the administrative organs of the nation are collectively referred to as "the state". In Canada government is used in both senses and neither state nor administration are used. Applied to many countries in continental Europe (when using English), the British usage is common.

In Britain, the word is often capitalised when referring to the UK government.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• ocracy

English

Etymology

Probably borrowed from German Pornokratie, first found in the writings of Austrian-born Biblical scholar Alfred Edersheim (1825–1889), from Ancient Greek ????? (pórn?, “female prostitute”) + -??????? (-kratí?, “-cracy”, suffix indicating “government, rule”); analysable as porno- +? -cracy.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pôr-n?k-r?-s?
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p???n?k??s?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p??n?k??si/
• Rhymes: -?k??si
• Hyphenation: por?no?cra?cy

Proper noun

pornocracy

1. (Roman Catholicism, historical, sometimes capitalized) The period of the papacy known as the saeculum obsc?rum (Latin for “dark age”), and also as the “Rule of the Harlots”, which began with the installation of Pope Sergius III in 904 and lasted for sixty years until the death of Pope John XII in 964, during which time the popes were strongly influenced by the Theophylacti, a powerful and corrupt aristocratic family. [from mid-19th c.]

Alternative forms

• Pornocracy

Translations

Noun

pornocracy (plural pornocracies)

1. (derogatory, often figuratively) A government by, or dominated by, prostitutes or corrupt persons.
2. (derogatory) A societal culture dominated by pornography.

Derived terms

• pornocrat
• pornocratic

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• saeculum obscurum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• pornocracy (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia