A Regime

1. Mode of rule or management.
2. A form of government, or the government in power.
3. A period of rule.
4. A regulated system; a regimen.
5. A division of a Mafia crime family, led by a caporegime.
6. (hydrology) A set of characteristics.

Usage notes

• When regime is used in the sense of form of government, it is usually meant as a pejorative, and may be intended to brand that government as illegitimate or authoritarian.