mobocracy · noun — rule or control by the mob (or by the mass of ordinary people); a mob as a politically powerful force. It carries an Arena rating of 1392, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mobocracy ranks #507 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #718 of 17,201 for Funniest Words, #2,413 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #2,504 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
mobocracy is pronounced /mɒbˈɒkɹəsi/.
Why “mobocracy” is a great word
Rule or government by a mob or the disorderly populace. From mob ("a disorderly crowd") + the connective -o- + -cracy ("rule, government"), first recorded in English in 1754. Unlike democracy, which implies a sober covenant of laws and institutions, or the classical ochlocracy, which diagnoses the condition with academic detachment, mobocracy evokes the raw, immediate shock of the gallows raised in the town square, the storefront window exploding into a thousand glittering shards, and the fevered chant drowning out the single voice of reason—the moment the social contract tears, and power reverts to its most primal, fleeting form.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From mob + -o- + -cracy.
noun
- Rule or control by the mob (or by the mass of ordinary people); a mob as a politically powerful force.e.g.“That this ultrareactionary mobocracy was composed mainly of people with brown skins ought to have made no difference.” — 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2010, page 270:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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