mon|ar|chy «MON uhr kee», noun, plural -chies.
1. government by a monarch. In a monarchy the power to rule is formally vested in a single person. Denmark and Sweden have limited monarchies; Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy. »
There were those who accused him of wanting to establish a monarchy with himself as king (Newsweek).
2. a nation governed by a monarch: »
The British monarchy once ruled most of the world's oceans.
3. Obsolete. absolute rule by a single person.
╂[< Middle French monarchie, learned borrowing from Late Latin monarchia < Greek monarchíā < mónos alone, single + árchein to rule]
Useful english dictionary. 2012.