gerontocracy

Definition

Government by elders; government by elderly rulers.

Etymology

From geronto- + -cracy, from Ancient Greek.

Example Sentences

• "Near-synonym: senilocracy"
• "It would come as no surprise to find that optimum science policy is apt to be developed neither by gerontocracy nor by juvenocracy but, like the community of scientists itself, by age-diversified meritocracy."
• "But in his 1996 novel, Holy Fire, [Bruce] Sterling imagines a rather different future: a world ruled by an all-powerful gerontocracy, which appropriates most of the world's wealth to pay for ever more costly life-extension techniques."