cryptarchy

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English

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Etymology

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From crypt- (secret) +‎ -archy (government).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cryptarchy (plural cryptarchies)

  1. a secret government or rulership
    • 1798, The Monthly Review, volume 25, page 511:
      Yet these “ubiquitary nullibists,” (to borrow the jargon of Henry More,) this cosmopolitan cryptarchy, is co-extensive with the habitable world; and while with one hand it is preparing for Paris and Marseilles the desertion and desolation of []