idiocracy en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˌɪdiˈɒkɹəsi/ (UK)
- /ˌɪdiˈɑkɹəsi/ (US)
- (US) audio
Etymology
From idiot + -cracy. The word was coined by the writers of a 2006 movie about the topic, which some have interpreted as presaging, through caricature, the state of the world.
Meanings
-
(countable, humorous, uncountable) A government run by idiots.
In trying to explain why our political paralysis seems to have gotten so much worse over the past year, analysts have rounded up a plausible collection of reasons including: President Obama's tactical missteps, the obstinacy of congressional Republicans, rising partisanship in Washington, the blustering idiocracy of the cable-news stations, and the Senate filibuster, which has devolved into a super-majority threshold for any important legislation.
2010 February 6, Jacob Weisberg, “Down With the People”, in Slate, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2019:
- (countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable) A society where idiocy is the norm, often denoting the current state of the world.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| idiocracies | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
Translations (5)
ru идиократия (government by idiots) · oc idiocracia (government by idiots) · es idiocracia (government by idiots) · pt idiocracia (government by idiots) · fr idiocratie (government by idiots)