What does "gerontocracy" mean?

Government by elders; government by elderly rulers.

What is a synonym for "gerontocracy"?

Common synonyms include: aristocracy, autarchy, autonomy, colonialism, commonwealth, democracy.

Pronounced //ˌdʒɛɹənˈtɒkɹəsi//.

//ˌdʒɛɹənˈtɒkɹəsi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Government by elders; government by elderly rulers. countable, uncountable
"Near-synonym: senilocracy"
2
a political system governed by old men wordnet

"Gerontocracy, that is, government by the aged, is the most ancient form of government."

From geronto- + -cracy, from Ancient Greek.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.