🇪🇸Spanish Source WordCode: ES

meritocracia

Pronunciation / Transliteration: meh-ri-to-KRAH-syah

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Meritocracy/ˌmɛr.ɪˈtɒk.rə.si/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #4520 frequency
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🇪🇸 Example Sentence in Spanish:

"La meritocracia defiende que el éxito depende del talento y el esfuerzo."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A political or social system in which people are allocated power, responsibility, and advancement based on their abilities, credentials, and achievements rather than their wealth or social class.

    "The corporate leadership vowed to transform the traditional hierarchy into a strict meritocracy."
  2. 2

    A ruling or influential class of educated or capable individuals who have advanced based on individual merit.

    "Critics argue that the modern meritocracy often reproduces new forms of inequality disguised as fairness."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (2)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The term is a hybrid coinage combining the Latin root 'meritum' (meaning merit, excellence, or desert), via Old French, with the Greek suffix '-kratia' (meaning power or rule). Coined in 1958 by British sociologist Michael Young in his satirical essay 'The Rise of the Meritocracy', it originally carried a dystopian connotation before evolving into a modern sociopolitical concept.

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