republican

C2+ Topic:Law & Government

US /rɪˈpʌblɪkən/ UK /rɪˈpʌblɪkən/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
relating to a republic or its principles; a supporter of republican government

The pamphlet championed republican ideals over hereditary monarchy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · relating to a republic or... democratic representative constitutional

Opposites

monarchical royalist autocratic

Word family

Forms republicanism

Derived forms republicanismrepublicanize

Related forms republic public

Etymology

From French républicain or directly from republic + -an; republic from Latin res publica ('public affair, commonwealth'), from res ('thing, affair') + publicus ('public').

res publica Latin publicus Latin populus itc-ola

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Word Formation & Derivatives

# republican

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** rɪˈpʌblɪkən
**IPA (UK):** rɪˈpʌblɪkən

## Meanings
1. relating to a republic or its principles; a supporter of republican government

## Examples
- The pamphlet championed republican ideals over hereditary monarchy.

## Synonyms
- democratic
- representative
- constitutional

## Antonyms
- monarchical
- royalist
- autocratic

## Derived Forms
- republicanism
- republicanize

## Related Forms
- republic
- public

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: res publica
- Root: publicus
- Root: populus

## Etymology
From French républicain or directly from republic + -an; republic from Latin res publica ('public affair, commonwealth'), from res ('thing, affair') + publicus ('public').

## AI Etymology
Republican comes from French républicain or directly from republic + -an; republic from Latin res publica ('public affair, commonwealth'), from res ('thing, affair') + publicus ('public'). The historical chain includes Latin res publica, Latin publicus, and Latin populus. Older glosses in the chain include "public affair, commonwealth", "thing, affair", and "public", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, republican is best read as compound, suffixal formation, and borrowing, yielding an English adjective and noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a adjective and noun, with the sense "relating to a republic or its principles; a supporter of republican government". English derivatives include republicanism and republicanize; related forms include republic and public. The result is an English adjective and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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republican

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