theocracy

== English == === Etymology === From theo- +‎ -cracy, originally from Ancient Greek θεοκρατία (theokratía, “rule of (a) God”), a term coined in the 1st century by Josephus (Against Apion 2.17) in reference to the ancient Israelite polity under the Mosaic covenant. Attested in English from the 1620s, first by John Donne in A Sermon upon the fifth of November 1622. being the Anniversary celebration of our Deliverance from the Powder Treason: "The Jews were onely under a Theocratie, an immediate government of God..." === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /θiːˈɒkɹəsi/ Homophone: theocrasy === Noun === theocracy (countable and uncountable, plural theocracies) Government under the control of a state religion. Hypernym: ideocracy Hyponym: sharia law Near-synonym: clericocracy For more quotations using this term, see Citations:theocracy. Rule by a god. For quotations using this term, see Citations:theocracy. ==== Related terms ==== theocrat theocratic ==== Translations ====