Minarchy

//ˈmɪnɑː(ɹ)ki// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Government with the least necessary power over its citizens. countable, uncountable

    "This "minarchy," often dubbed the "nightwatchman State," reduced to police (and possibly army), is their historical ideal - and even in present days that of philosopher Nozick, for instance."

Example

More examples

"This "minarchy," often dubbed the "nightwatchman State," reduced to police (and possibly army), is their historical ideal - and even in present days that of philosopher Nozick, for instance."

Etymology

From minimum + -archy.

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