Definition:
: a person with power or influence due to his or her wealth : a member of a plutocracy
Example:
"Plush armchairs, stately fireplaces, fine woodwork, solicitous personnel even a tiny putting green would all enable the harried plutocrat to take refuge from his cares."
– Joe Queenan, Spy Magazine, February 1991
About the Word:
A plutocrat is someone whose source of power is wealth. The word has a root in Plutus, the name of the Greek god of wealth and riches – not to be confused with Pluto, the god who ruled the underworld.
In a classic comedy by the playwright Aristophanes, Plutus is somewhat surprisingly portrayed as a beggar. Zeus – jealous of humanity – had blinded Plutus so that he would no longer be able to give out his gifts only to the deserving, but instead would hand them to the bad and unjust as well as the good.
