Gerontocrat

//dʒəˈɹɒntəkɹat// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of a gerontocracy; an aged leader, especially one clinging on to power or ruling only by virtue of age.

    "In Poland, a so-called anti-Zionist urge proved that the Stalinist gerontocrats would stoop even to Hitlerite tactics to repress dissent and prolong their sterile and boring hold on power."

Example

More examples

"In Poland, a so-called anti-Zionist urge proved that the Stalinist gerontocrats would stoop even to Hitlerite tactics to repress dissent and prolong their sterile and boring hold on power."

Etymology

From geronto- + -crat, after gerontocracy.

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