regime
Pluralregimes
- 1A form of government, or the particular government in power, especially an authoritarian or totalitarian one.
International sanctions failed to weaken the military regime.
The country transitioned from a communist regime to a multiparty democracy in the 1990s.
Similargovernment, administration, rule, dictatorship, junta
Note
Here the word leans toward rule the speaker dislikes, as in the dictator's regime or tyrannical regimes. That lean matters in practice. Calling an elected cabinet "the regime" suggests it is heavy-handed or illegitimate, so writers who mean to stay neutral choose government or administration instead.
- 2A mode of rule or management; the way in which something is governed or administered.
Employees describe a friendlier regime since the new director took over.
The team thrived under the new coach's regime of trust and accountability.
Similarmanagement, administration, leadership, rule, system
Note
Every sense of the word grows from this one, and from Latin regimen, "direction, government," which reached English through Middle French. English also kept regimen itself, so the two words are doublets: one source, two forms. In this broad sense the word fits any institution with its own rules of conduct, as in a prison regime.
- 3A regulated system or course of practices; a regimen, as of diet, exercise, or medical treatment.
She follows a demanding fitness regime of weight training and yoga.
The new tax regime takes effect at the start of the fiscal year.
Similarregimen, routine, program, system, plan
Note
Here regime overlaps with its twin, regimen, which comes from the same Latin source as the "mode of management" sense. Fitness and rest regimes are the familiar cases, but the word reaches well beyond the body. Joseph Stiglitz wrote of an "unfair, distortionary global tax regime" in 2013, and policy writers speak of a nondiscrimination regime, meaning a framework of rules rather than a personal routine.
- 4
- 5The characteristic set of conditions or pattern of variation of a natural system, such as a river's seasonal flow or a region's rainfall.
Snowmelt dominates the flow regime of many rivers in the Rockies.
Climate change is shifting the rainfall regimes of many tropical regions.
Similarpattern
Note
A hydrologist's word in which nobody rules: the pattern belongs to the system itself. It usually follows the quantity being tracked, as in a water level regime or a flow regime, and it describes a yearly cycle, such as a gradual summer drawdown beginning in early May. To ask about a lake's regime is to ask how its levels normally rise and fall.
- 6A unit or division within a Mafia crime family, operating under a caporegime.
After the indictments, the boss merged two weakened regimes into one.
He worked his way up from street soldier to running his own regime.
Similarcrew
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English "regime" and Middle French "regime," which came from Latin "regimen" meaning "direction" or "government." It is a doublet of "regimen."