What does "technocracy" mean?

A system of governance where people who are skilled or proficient govern in their respective areas of expertise.

What is a synonym for "technocracy"?

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

Pronounced //tɛkˈnɒkɹəsi//.

//tɛkˈnɒkɹəsi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A system of governance where people who are skilled or proficient govern in their respective areas of expertise. countable, uncountable
"When scientific imagination and knowledge of Nature's Laws are substituted in our economics for chance, mystery, and magic;[…] when this economic childish irrationality is sanely substituted by organized Science, Technology, and specialized Skill co-ordinated in National Industrial Management, then will begin real civilization, the Age of Social Sanity, — Technocracy."
2
a form of government in which scientists and technical experts are in control wordnet

"Bureaucracy is a product of technocracy."

From techno- (“technical”, “technicians”) + -cracy (“rule by”), attributed to W.H. Smyth.

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