What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Oligarchy vs Plutocracy - What's the difference?

oligarchy | plutocracy |

As nouns the difference between oligarchy and plutocracy

is that oligarchy is a government run by only a few, often the wealthy while plutocracy is government by the wealthy.

oligarchy

English

Noun

(wikipedia oligarchy) (oligarchies)
  • A government run by only a few, often the wealthy.
  • Those who make up an oligarchic government.
  • A state ruled by such a government.
  • plutocracy

    Alternative forms

    * plousiocracy * ploutocracy

    Noun

    (plutocracies)
  • Government by the wealthy.
  • A controlling class of the wealthy.
  • Quotations

    * 1933 , Essay XXIII: ''On Industrialism *: Modernity is not democracy; machinery is not democracy; the surrender of everything to trade and commerce is not democracy. Capitalism is not democracy; and is admittedly, by trend and savour, rather against democracy. Plutocracy by definition is not democracy. But all these modern things forced themselves into the world at about the time, or shortly after the time, when great idealists like Rousseau and Jefferson happened to have been thinking about the democratic ideal of democracy.

    Synonyms

    * argentocracy (nonce word) * tycoonocracy (uncommon)