Meanings
nounsocial democracy (countable and uncountable, plural social democracies)
plural social democracies
- countableuncountablegovernmentA moderate left-wing political philosophy or ideology that aims to achieve socialist (socialistic) goals within a democratic society such as by means of a strong welfare state and nationalisation of private industry.
The congress declared that international social democracy and the trade unions under its control were the mainstay of capitalism, and Communist parties were ordered to concentrate all their efforts against the 'social Fascists'.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 111 - countableuncountableA society based on this ideology.
Translations
Arabic الديمقراطية الاجتماعية
- الديمقراطية الاجتماعيةmoderate left-wing political philosophy
Chinese Mandarin 社會民主主義 /社会民主主义
- 社會民主主義 /社会民主主义 (shèhuìmínzhǔzhǔyì)moderate left-wing political philosophy
Danish socialdemokratisme
- socialdemokratismemoderate left-wing political philosophy
Dutch sociaaldemocratie, sociaaldemocratie
- sociaaldemocratiemoderate left-wing political philosophy
- sociaaldemocratiesocial democratic society
Estonian sotsiaaldemokraatia, sotsiaaldemokraatia
- sotsiaaldemokraatiamoderate left-wing political philosophy
- sotsiaaldemokraatiasocial democratic society
Finnish sosiaalidemokratia, sosiaalidemokratia
- sosiaalidemokratiamoderate left-wing political philosophy
- sosiaalidemokratiasocial democratic society
French social-démocratie, social-démocratie
- social-démocratiemoderate left-wing political philosophy
- social-démocratiesocial democratic society
German Sozialdemokratie
- Sozialdemokratiemoderate left-wing political philosophy
Greek σοσιαλδημοκρατία
- σοσιαλδημοκρατία (sosialdimokratía)moderate left-wing political philosophy
Hebrew דמוקרטיה חברתית
- דמוקרטיה חברתיתmoderate left-wing political philosophy
Hindi सामाजिक प्रजातंत्र
- सामाजिक प्रजातंत्र (sāmājik prajātantra)moderate left-wing political philosophy
Hungarian szociáldemokrácia
- szociáldemokráciamoderate left-wing political philosophy
Indonesian demokrasi sosial
- demokrasi sosialmoderate left-wing political philosophy
Irish daonlathas sóisialta
- daonlathas sóisialtamoderate left-wing political philosophy
Japanese 社会民主主義
- 社会民主主義 (shakai minshushugi)moderate left-wing political philosophy
Korean 사회 민주주의
- 사회 민주주의 (sahoe minjujuui)moderate left-wing political philosophy
Lithuanian socialdemokratija
- socialdemokratijamoderate left-wing political philosophy
Norwegian Bokmål sosialdemokrati
- sosialdemokratimoderate left-wing political philosophy
Polish esdecja, socjaldemokracja
- esdecjamoderate left-wing political philosophy
- socjaldemokracjamoderate left-wing political philosophy
- socjaldemokratyzmmoderate left-wing political philosophy
Portuguese social-democracia, social-democracia
- social-democraciamoderate left-wing political philosophy
- social-democraciasocial democratic society
Romanian social-democrație
- social-democrațiemoderate left-wing political philosophy
Russian социал-демократия
- социал-демократия (social-demokratija)moderate left-wing political philosophy
Spanish socialdemocracia
- socialdemocraciamoderate left-wing political philosophy
Swedish socialdemokrati, socialdemokrati
- socialdemokratimoderate left-wing political philosophy
- socialdemokratisocial democratic society
Cite this entry
APA
social democracy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/social%20democracy
MLA
“social democracy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/social%20democracy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “social democracy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/social%20democracy.
Source: social democracy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.