aretocracy means A form of governance or political organization in which authority or eligibility for public office is based on virtue, moral excellence, or demonstrated civic merit. It carries an Arena rating of 1770, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, aretocracy ranks #1,350 of 13,223 for Most Incisive Words, #2,260 of 13,223 for Most Malleable Words, #2,691 of 13,223 for Most Storied Words, #3,336 of 13,223 for Most Ponderous Words.
Why “aretocracy” is a great word
A government where political power and eligibility for office are contingent upon personal virtue, moral excellence, and demonstrated civic merit. From Ancient Greek ἀρετή (aretḗ, "virtue, excellence") + -κρατία (-kratía, "rule, power"). Unlike aristocracy, where a hereditary elite holds sway by birthright, or meritocracy, where advancement flows from measurable ability and achievement, aretocracy is predicated on the far less tangible, more demanding currency of character. It imagines a senate of the wisest, a cabinet of the most just, a leadership drawn not from the cradle or the test score but from the consistent practice of civic good—the quiet statesman who refuses a bribe, the judge whose impartiality is unquestioned, the public servant whose life is a lesson in integrity. It is the most noble and most tragic of political ideals, forever receding in practice like a mirage of clean hands, for it demands of its rulers a purity that power itself seems designed to corrupt.
Etymology
From arete (“virtue, excellence”) + -o- + -cracy, from Ancient Greek ἀρετή (aretḗ).
noun
- A form of governance or political organization in which authority or eligibility for public office is based on virtue, moral excellence, or demonstrated civic merit.“It was a revolution, reader, a transition from republic to dictatorship in fifty years without a single drop of blood. Detractors call it a cult of charisma, but the Humanists themselves use aretocracy, rule by excellence.”
Words closest in meaning
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