- anarchy
- anarchy 1 Anarchy, anarchism overlap in their implications but are not synonyms because of differing denotations.Anarchy may denote a state or condition of society where there is no law or imposed order because social evolution has rendered these unnecessary{
first the proletarian revolution . . . then the dictatorship of the proletariat; and lastly, the classless society: that is the Marxian order of advance towards communism and anarchy, towards justice, equality and perfect freedom— Plamenatz
}It may, on the other hand, denote one of complete disorder resulting from the breakdown of normal controls{for our people liberty so often means only license and anarchy— Sulzberger
}Anarchism denotes a theory that government is an evil because it imposes limitations upon the freedom of the individual{nihilism is a form of anarchism
}The same distinctions extend to their respective adjectives anarchic and anarchistic{anarchic disorder
}{anarchic conditions
}{anarchistic influences
}{anarchistic doctrines
}Anarchist when used adjectivally is often ambiguous since it is related to both anarchism and anarchy{an anarchist plot to assassinate the prime minister
}2 Anarchy, chaos, lawlessness denote in common absence, suspension, breakdown, or widespread defiance of government, law, and order.Anarchy is the total absence or suspension of government{by the adoption of the Constitution our country passed from weakness to strength, from anarchy to order, from death to life— Muzzey
}Chaos is the utter negation of order{a process calculated to reduce the orderly life of our complicated societies to chaos— Huxley
}Lawlessness signifies a prevalent or habitual disregard of law and order rather than their absence or suspension{the traditional lawlessness of the frontier community
}When anarchy and lawlessness (or their adjectives) are used of actions rather than of a state of things, there is often little distinction of meaning{the hydrogen atom was not conforming to the canons of the classical music of physics, and yet it was not anarchic in the least, for . . . it was flawlessly obeying the laws of a different music— Darrow
}{illusion is not lawless. It is a world apart, if you please, but within it are its own necessities, which exact inexorable adherence to their mandates— Lowes
}Antonyms: order: discipline
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.