despotism

English

Etymology

From French despotisme; equivalent to despot +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛspətɪzəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

despotism (countable and uncountable, plural despotisms)

1. Government by a despot or despots: rule by a singular authority, either a single person or a tight-knit group, which rules with absolute power, especially in a cruel and oppressive way.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 136:

     The iron hand of despotism has quenched the last spark of liberty; hunted down like a wild beast, I am watching an opportunity to fly my degraded and enslaved country.

   • 1992 March 30, Richard Nixon, 4:50 from the start, in Richard Nixon on "Inside Washington"‎^[1], Richard Nixon Foundation, retrieved 25 May 2020:

     But now events have proved that I was right because Khrushchev's grandchildren do live in freedom and the great question of our time: can they continue to live in freedom, or will they revert to the old, or a new despotism?

Synonyms

• absolutism
• autocracy
• dictatorship
• tyranny

 

Hyponyms

• absolute monarchy
• benevolent absolutism
• enlightened absolutism
• enlightened despotism

 

Derived terms

• enlightened despotism

 

Related terms

• despot
• despotate
• despotic

Translations

government by a singular authority

• Albanian: despotizëm (sq) m
• Arabic: اِسْتِبْدَاد (ar) m (istibdād), ظُلْم (ar) m (ẓulm)
• Armenian: բռնապետություն (hy) (bṙnapetutʻyun), բռնակալություն (hy) (bṙnakalutʻyun)
• Asturian: despotismu m
• Azerbaijani: despotizm, zülm (az), istibdad (az)
• Basque: despotismo
• Belarusian: дэспаты́зм m (despatýzm)
• Bulgarian: деспоти́зъм (bg) m (despotízǎm)
• Catalan: despotisme m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: please add this translation if you can

  Mandarin: 專制／专制 (zh) (zhuānzhì), 專制主義／专制主义 (zh) (zhuānzhìzhǔyì), 獨裁／独裁 (zh) (dúcái), 暴政 (zh) (bàozhèng)

• Czech: despotismus m, despocie (cs) f
• Danish: despoti (da) n
• Dutch: despotisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: despotismo (eo)
• Estonian: despotism (et)
• Finnish: itsevaltius (fi)
• French: despotisme (fr)
• Galician: despotismo (gl) m
• Georgian: დესპოტიზმი (desṗoṭizmi)
• German: Despotie (de) f, Despotismus (de) m, Willkürherrschaft (de) f
• Greek: δεσποτισμός (el) m (despotismós)
• Hebrew: רוֹדָנוּת (he) f (rodanút)
• Hindi: तानाशाही (hi) f (tānāśāhī), स्वेच्छाचारिता (hi) (svecchācāritā)
• Hungarian: despotizmus (hu)
• Icelandic: harðstjórn f
• Ido: despoteso (io)
• Indonesian: despotisme (id), istibdad (id)
• Irish: forlámhas m, smachtúlacht f, tíorántacht f
• Italian: dispotismo (it) m
• Japanese: 専制 (ja) (せんせい, sensei), 独裁主義 (どくさいしゅぎ, dokusaishugi), 独裁 (ja) (どくさい, dokusai), 暴政 (ja) (ぼうせい, bōsei)
• Kazakh: деспотизм (despotizm)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 전제(專制) (ko) (jeonje), 독재(獨裁) (ko) (dokjae), 폭정(暴政) (ko) (pokjeong)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: istibdad (ku)

• Latin: despotismus m
• Latvian: despotisms m
• Lithuanian: despotizmas m
• Macedonian: деспоти́зам m (despotízam)
• Malay: despotisme
• Mingrelian: დესპოტიზმი (desṗoṭizmi)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: despoti n

  Nynorsk: despoti n

• Ottoman Turkish: ظلم (zulm, zulüm)
• Persian: استبداد (fa) (estebdâd), ظلم (fa) (zolm)
• Polish: despotyzm (pl) m
• Portuguese: despotismo (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਧੱਕੇਸ਼ਾਹੀ (dhakkeśāhī)
• Romanian: despotism (ro) n
• Russian: деспоти́зм (ru) m (despotízm), произво́л (ru) m (proizvól), деспоти́я (ru) f (despotíja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: деспотѝзам m

  Roman: despotìzam (sh) m

• Slovak: despotizmus m
• Slovene: despotizem m
• Spanish: despotismo (es) m
• Swedish: despoti c, despotism (sv) c
• Tajik: истибдод (istibdod), зулм (zulm)
• Thai: ระบบใช้อำนาจเด็ดขาด (rá-bòp chái am-nâat dèt kàat)
• Turkish: despotizm (tr), istibdat (tr)
• Ukrainian: деспоти́зм m (despotýzm)
• Urdu: اِسْتِبْدَاد (istibdād)
• Uzbek: despotiya (uz), istibdod (uz), zulm (uz)
• Volapük: däspot (vo)

Anagrams

• misposted

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French despotisme. By surface analysis, despot +‎ -ism.

Noun

despotism n (uncountable)

1. despotism

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	despotism	despotismul
genitive-dative	despotism	despotismului
vocative	despotismule