Democracy

n. [Gr. δημοκρατία, from δῆμος, the people, and κρατεῖν, to be strong, to rule, from κράτος, strength; Fr. démocratie.]

1. Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is in the hands of the people, and directly exercised by them; hence, more usually, a form of government in which the power resides ultimately in the whole people, who conduct it by a system of representation and delegation of powers; a constitutional and representative government; a republic.
2. The system of principles held by one of the two chief parties into which the people have long been divided. [U. S.]