polyˈarchal, a. rare—1.
[f. as polyarchy + -al1.]
Having many rulers. So polyˈarchical a. (rare), of the nature of or pertaining to a polyarchy (opp. to monarchical); ˈpolyarchist (rare), one who advocates or believes in a polyarchy.
| 1896 Boscawen Bible & Monuments v. 112 The Deluge formed the rubicon between the mythic period and the heroic and *polyarchal age. |
| 1660 R. Sheringham King's Supremacy Asserted viii. (1682) 84 The state of a Commonwealth is either Monarchical, or *Polyarchical. 1673 H. Stubbe Further Vind. Dutch War To Rdr. 13 It was a maxime transmitted unto them from the first Pr. William that this Polyarchical Government could not subsist without a State-holder, who was to reconcile all emergent difficulties betwixt the Towns and Provinces. |
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 403 Yet is it undeniably evident, that he [Plato] was no *Polyarchist, but a Monarchist, an assertor of One Supreme God. |