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.

Democracy vs Polis - What's the difference?

democracy | polis |

As a noun democracy

is (uncountable) rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives (representative democracy).

As a proper noun polis is

.

democracy

Noun

(democracies)
  • (uncountable) Rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives (representative democracy).
  • * 1866 , J. Arthur Partridge, On Democracy , Trübner & Co., page 2:
  • And the essential value and power of Democracy' consists in this,—that it combines, as far as possible, power and organization ; THE SPIRIT, MANHOOD, ''is at one with'' THE BODY, ORGANIZATION. [....] ' Democracy is Government by the People.
  • * 1901 , The American Historical Review , American Historical Association, page 260:
  • The period, that is, which marks the transition from absolutism or aristocracy to democracy will mark also the transition from absolutist or autocratic methods of nomination to democratic methods.
  • * 1921 , James Bryce Bryce, Modern Democracies , The Macmillan Company, page 1:
  • A century ago there was in the Old World only one tiny spot in which the working of democracy could be studied. A few of the ancient rural cantons of Switzerland had recovered their freedom after the fall of Napoleon, and were governing themselves as they had done from the earlier Middle Ages[...]. Nowhere else in Europe did the people rule.
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 24:
  • Everyone who wanted to speak did so. It was democracy in its purest form.
  • (countable, government) A government under the direct or representative rule of the people of its jurisdiction.
  • * 2003 , Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad , W. W. Norton & Company, page 13:
  • In 1900 not a single country had what we would today consider a democracy : a government created by elections in which every adult citizen could vote.
  • (uncountable) Belief in political freedom and equality; the "spirit of democracy".
  • * 1918 , Charles Horton Cooley, “A Primary Culture for Democracy”, in Publications of the American Sociological Society 13 , p8
  • As states of the human spirit democracy , righteousness, and faith have much in common and may be cultivated by the same means...
  • * 1919 , Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, The Spirit of Russia: Studies in History, Literature and Philosophy , Macmillan, p446
  • It must further be admitted that he provided a successful interpretation of democracy' in its philosophic aspects when he conceived '''democracy''' as a general outlook on the universe... In Bakunin's conception of ' democracy as religious in character we trace the influence of French socialism.
  • * 1996 , Petre Roman, The Spirit of Democracy and the Fabric of NATO - The New European Democracies and NATO Enlargement , p1
  • The spirit of democracy' means, above all, liberty of choice for human beings... ' democracy , in both its individual and collective forms, is the main engine of the eternal human striving for justice and prosperity.

    Synonyms

    * democratism (spirit of democracy)

    Coordinate terms

    * (a form of government) monarchy, aristocracy, dictatorship

    polis

    English

    (wikipedia polis)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A city, or a city-state.
  • * 2006 , Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation , Atlantic Books 2007, p. 161:
  • By the end of the century, poleis had been established throughout the Hellenic world, all bearing a marked family resemblance.
    Derived terms
    * -polis * acropolis * akropolis * cosmopolis * ecumenopolis * Indianapolis * megapolis * megalopolis * metropolis * necropolis * nekropolis * technopolis

    Etymology 2

    From police, compare (etyl) polis.

    Alternative forms

    * pollis

    Noun

  • (uncountable, Geordie) The police.
  • (countable, Geordie) A policeman or policewoman.
  • Synonyms
    * (the police) see * (police officer) see
    References
    *

    Anagrams

    * ----