monarchy

noun

Etymology: From Old French monarchie, from Late Latin monarchia, from Ancient Greek μοναρχία (monarkhía), from μόνος (mónos, “only”) + ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “power, authority”). By surface analysis, mon- (“one, single”) + -archy (“rule, command”).

1. A government in which sovereignty is embodied within a single, today usually hereditary head of state (whether as a figurehead or as a powerful ruler).

   “An absolute monarchy is a monarchy where the monarch is legally the ultimate authority in all temporal matters.”

   “A constitutional monarchy is a monarchy in which the monarch's power is legally constrained, ranging from where minor concessions have been made to appease certain factions to where the monarch is a figurehead with all real power in the hands of a legislative body.”

2. The territory ruled over by a monarch; a kingdom.

   “What scourge for perjury / Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?”

3. A form of government where sovereignty is embodied by a single ruler in a state and his high aristocracy representing their separate divided lands within the state and their low aristocracy representing their separate divided fiefs.
4. States based on a system of governance headed by a king or a queen.