Words / K / General

kleptocracy

noun/klɛpˈtɒkrəsi/

C2CEFR level
75/100Rarity: rare
TechnicalRegister

A government or society controlled by rulers who use their power to steal the country's wealth.

Beneath the flags and parades the state was a kleptocracy in which the president's family owned everything of value.

Similar: thief-state, plunder-regime

Origin: From Greek 'kleptes' (thief) plus '-cracy' (rule).

Topic: corruption in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: corruption