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The phrase "we're a republic, not a democracy" treats the two terms as opposites. They aren't. They describe different dimensions of the same system. Below — the four words that actually matter, what each means in plain English, and why the U.S. is several of them at once.
Government in which power is held by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
In its broadest modern usage, "democracy" is the umbrella term — any system where political authority traces back to the consent of the governed, expressed through free, regular elections under rule of law. Press freedom, civil liberties, peaceful transfer of power, and the right to vote all sit under this umbrella. The U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Japan, and India are all democracies by this definition. Within that umbrella, two sub-forms exist: direct democracy (citizens vote on laws themselves — used today at the local level and in 27 U.S. states via ballot initiatives) and representative democracy (citizens elect officials to vote on laws for them — the form used at every level of U.S. federal government).
The terms are not opposites. They describe different dimensions of the same system. "Democracy" answers: who rules? (the people). "Republic" answers: through what structure? (elected officials, no king). The United States is BOTH — a representative democracy AND a constitutional republic. The widely repeated line "we're a republic, not a democracy" is, strictly speaking, a category error.