as in democracy
government in which the supreme power is held by the people and used by them directly or indirectly through representation when asked by a passerby what sort of government the constitutional convention had formulated for the new nation, Benjamin Franklin memorably replied, "A republic, if you can keep it"

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of republic Talbott is the son of Strobe Talbott, who served as deputy secretary of state under President Bill Clinton after holding senior roles focused on the former Soviet republics. Samantha-Jo Roth, The Washington Examiner, 13 Oct. 2025 Angry and rude to their neighbors while fearing the end of the republic? David M. Drucker, Twin Cities, 12 Oct. 2025 Our guides prepared with customary rigor, reading widely in the ever-growing scholarship on women in the early republic. Jane Kamensky, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025 During a meeting in Washington in August to sign a peace framework, both Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev praised the president’s efforts to normalize relations between the two former Soviet republics. Colin Meyn, The Hill, 9 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for republic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for republic
democracy
Noun
  • Third spaces furnish the connective tissue that hold a multifaith and multiethnic democracy together, Oldenburg said.
    John Blake, CNN Money, 26 Oct. 2025
  • Boycotts don’t build democracy.
    Danish Manzoor Bhat, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Republic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/republic. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

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