Definition of "monarchy"

monarchy

/ˈmɒnəki/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural monarchies
1. A government in which sovereignty is embodied within a single, today usually hereditary head of state (whether as a figurehead or as a powerful ruler).
  Quotations
  He that with ſhepheards and a litle ſpoyle,Durſt in diſdaine of wrong and tyrannie,Defend his freedome gainſt a Monarchie:What will he doe ſupported by a king?
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
2. The territory ruled over by a monarch; a kingdom.
  Quotations
  What scourge for perjury / Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?
  c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv]
3. A form of government where sovereignty is embodied by a single ruler in a state and his high aristocracy representing their separate divided lands within the state and their low aristocracy representing their separate divided fiefs.
4. States based on a system of governance headed by a king or a queen.