‏¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_rule
‏² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majoritarian

One of the definitions of democracy is simply majority rule.

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=democracy

S: (n) democracy (the political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives)
S: (n) democracy, republic, commonwealth (a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them)
S: (n) majority rule, democracy (the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy

1 a: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2: a political unit that has a democratic government

‏¹ http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=israel

I think that the definitions speak for themselves, and that your comments are mainly a combination of pedantism ‏¹ and rudeness. But please give me a chance to rephrase my comment, so it would be more strictly correct.

1. The princeton dictionary is quite clear: ONE of the definitions of democracy is identical to THE definition of majority rule. In fact, the words are synonyms.

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=majority+r...
S: (n) majority rule, democracy (the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group)
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=democracy
S: (n) majority rule, democracy (the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group)

2. Miriam webster is also quite clear: ONE of the definitions of democracy is simply "a government by the people", and in particular, it is used to denote a specific kind of "government by the people" which is "majority rule".

Also, please note that the words "main characteristic" do not appear in any of the definitions, so , strictlly speaking, you cannot say that.

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‏¹ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pedant

‏¹ fire
‏² flame
‏³ water
‏⁴ urine
‏⁵ man
‏⁶ world
‏⁷ good
‏⁸ sound
‏⁹ go
‏¹⁰ israel
‏¹¹ zion
‏¹² utopia

What exactly is your problem? All I wanted to show is one dictionary definition. Other definitions are closer to your opinion.

I think you could have said: "yes the definition in the dictionary is X but..". Instead, you are telling me of the difference between definition and synonym, and that I do not know how to read. I think that you are actling like a shmock, and that is too bad..

Have a good weekend.

‏² http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pedant

dude,

I said: the dictionary is quite clear: ONE of the definitions is X. Then I bring ALL the defintions.
Smiley said: you don't know english. There are many definitions, you cannot say that the dictionary is clear.

And then he starts to talk about the difference between definition and synonynm, in order to prove that I don't know english..

COME-ON. He earned the title "pedant".

As for comments, you are saying things that I simply did not do.
1. I did not "ran" to the dictionary.
2. I did not try to "prove" anything, or to claim anything about the truness of the word. .
3. In my original message, I did not say anything about THE definition. In fact I specifically attached all the other definitions, which are closer to smiley's definition.

Bottom line, the discussion is not about the dictionary and how to read it. Its about the common usage of the word "democracy". But words may have more than one usage. And this is the case for "democracy". One usage is what smiley says, and the other is "majority rule".

Thank you, and sorry for bringing up a dictionary reference. I will remember not to do that again.

"Thank you, and sorry for bringing up a dictionary reference. I will remember not to do that again."