Democracy vs. Republic

Funk and Wagnalls NEW STANDARD DICTIONARY OF THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE 1937

Democracy: 1. The political system in which government is directly exercised or controlled by the people collectively; government by the people, as distinguished from aristocracy. 2. A commonwealth in which the people as a whole legislate and choose executive and judicial officers, either (1) directly, as in some of the ancient Greek stats in which the sovereign powers were exercised directly in popular assemblies, and many towns in the United States (pure democracy), or (2) through elected representatives, as in every State of the United States (democratic republic) 3. Political and legal equality; a state of society without class distinctions made for favored by law or custom.

Republic: 1. A state in which the sovereignty resides in the people and the administration is lodged in officers elected by and representing the people; a representative democracy; in older and less strict usage, a state in which the officers of government are elected for a term by enfranchised persons; as, the republic of the United States.