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History vocabulary · Social History

Aristocracy

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˌærɪˈstɒkrəsi/nounCommon term

In history, aristocracy means: The highest social class in many societies, made up of noble families who usually held inherited titles, land and political influence.

In Turkish: aristokrasi, soylular sınıfı, soyluluk

How it is used

Common in European social history. Close words are nobility (the titled class as a whole) and gentry (landowners just below the nobility in England). A member is an aristocrat, and the adjective is aristocratic. It can also mean government by a small privileged group.

Example sentences

  1. Land was the main source of wealth for the eighteenth-century aristocracy.

  2. The revolution abolished many of the privileges of the aristocracy.

Common collocations

  • the landed aristocracy
  • members of the aristocracy
  • aristocratic families
  • the old aristocracy
  • social classA group of people in a society who share a similar economic position, such as wealth, occupation or education, and often similar status and opportunities.
  • monarchyA system of government in which a king, queen, emperor or other hereditary ruler is head of state, or a country governed in this way.
  • feudalismA term for the social and political order of medieval Europe in which lords granted land to vassals in return for loyalty and military service, while peasants worked the land.
  • peasantA person who lives in the countryside and farms a small piece of land with family labour, often paying rent, taxes or labour services to a landowner or the state.

More terms: Social History

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