http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=democracy

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=republic

Note that contemporary definitions of "democracy" do not exclude
electoral representation. One would have to qualify the term as a
"direct" or "pure" democracy if referring to a government without
elected officials.

Because nation/state examples of true "democracy" have not existed for
thousands of years (if at all), the modern English use of "democracy"
assumes its contemporary republic nature.

I already discussed in some depth that I agree that a representative form of
gov't can still be called a Democracy without it needing to be a "direct"
democracy. That is clearly how most of the States are governed. However, the
key factor is that the representatives need to be representing somewhat
equivalent numbers of citizens. The Senate of the US clearly does NOT have
equal representation of the citizens. It has equal representation of the States
- big or small. The election of the president is NOT based upon equal
representation of the citizenry, but is weighted toward equal representation of
the states. Thus you cannot even begin to define the US as a Democracy.

Dave Hall