Meanings
comparative more meritocratic · superlative most meritocratic
- Pertaining to a meritocracy.
Sixty years on from Young’s book, a pure product of meritocratic training has emerged to write what he hopes will be the epitaph for his class.
2019 September 5, Sarah Leonard, “The Fall of the Meritocracy”, in The New Republic, archived from the original on 07 Sep 20192 more examples
And now Mr. Markovits is taking his message to the masses, with a big new book arguing that the meritocratic ideal has not only fed rampant inequality and hollowed out the middle class, but also threatens democracy itself.
2019 September 9, Jennifer Schuessler, “The Meritocrat Who Wants to Unwind the Meritocracy”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 10 Sep 2019But while the meritocratic system was intended to democratize American society, argues Yale Law School’s Daniel Markovits in his book The Meritocracy Trap, it has instead contributed to increasing inequality and the decline of the middle class.
2020 January 9, Daniel Markovits, “How Meritocracy Worsens Inequality—and Makes Even the Rich Miserable”, in Yale Insights, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2020
Origin
From merit + -o- + -cratic or meritocrat + -ic.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French méritocratique
- méritocratiqueTranslations
German meritokratisch
- meritokratischTranslations
Hungarian meritokratikus
- meritokratikusTranslations
Irish tuilleamhlathach
- tuilleamhlathachTranslations
Portuguese meritocrático
- meritocráticoTranslations
Russian меритократический
- меритократический (meritokratičeskij)Translations
Spanish meritocrático
- meritocráticoTranslations
Swedish meritokratisk
- meritokratiskTranslations
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with meritocratic
Cite this entry
meritocratic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meritocratic
“meritocratic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meritocratic. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meritocratic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meritocratic.
Source: meritocratic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.