Dictionary

kakistocrat en · NOUN

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κάκιστος (kákistos, “worst”), superlative of κακός (kakós, “bad”) + -κρατία (-kratía, “power, rule, government”) (corresponding to -crat).

Meanings

1. A very ill-qualified ruler; a member of a kakistocracy.
   • An obvious characteristic of a kakistocrat is inserting unqualified loyalists into positions of power. Nepotism and kakistocracy go hand-in-hand. 2024 November 17, Howie Klein, “A Plurality Of American Voters Have Embraced Kakistocracy As Their Preferred Form Of Governance”, in DownWithTyranny, archived from the original on 18 Nov 2024:
   • On the other hand, should the kakistocrats in Iran stick with the name of expediency to describe their power brokers? 2009 July 12, William Safire, “Newswords”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 11 Feb 2021:

Forms

Translations (1)

fr kakistocrate (A very ill-qualified ruler; a member of a kakistocracy.)