anarchy
- noun
- /ˈænərki/
- The country descended into anarchy after the government collapsed, leading to widespread chaos.
- anarchy and chaos
- state of anarchy
- lead to anarchy
So globally there's a kind of anarchy across borders.
- So globally there's a kind of anarchy across borders.
- You create a state and that means you go from anarchy to hierarchy.
- We have unleashed anarchy upon American cities, Megan.
- That's what I love Hollywood is it's anarchy at its best.
- Young people's lives are filled with sadness and desperation and anarchy and chaos.
- A real leader would step up and stop this anarchy.
- And so illegal activities often give rise to zones of violent anarchy.
- OK, Am I trying to apply anarchy at the wrong level?
- Well, that is just a recipe for recipe for anarchy, conflict, war, as we've seen.
Examples
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Yeah, I was thinking of it more as the line between civilization and lawless anarchy.
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We can't watch the world slipping into anarchy.
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And you knew that they had created, right, a kind of new anarchy and a new form.
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The second principle is anarchy, allowing everything to happen.
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What we're doing is we're making art out of anarchy.
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How will it be ensured that the same type of vicious anarchy does not return?
Academic text (1993) -
What we are up against is anarchy plus fanaticism.
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But if you destroy all trust and institutions, what you get is either anarchy or a dictatorship.
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So globally there's a kind of anarchy across borders.
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Behind a despotic, violent state, one usually will find hidden anarchy and disharmony.
Academic text (1991)
Synonyms
A situation with no order where people are confused and cannot act normally
A time of great confusion and disorder
Violent disorder and chaos that causes damage or a lot of trouble
A time of public unrest that breaks normal order
People do not follow laws and order breaks down
Antonyms
How Chaotic
Surface Forms
Morphology
anarchy = an + archy
Formed from the negating prefix 'an-' + the combining form '-archy' meaning 'rule/government', so the meaning 'without rule' is directly derivable.
Etymology
Anarchy comes from two Greek words: an- 'without' and archy 'ruler', the same root as monarch. So, anarchy means 'without a ruler', which explains why it is used for a society with no government and often much disorder.