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The chains of military despotism, once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off.
William Henry Harrison

Meaning of "despotism" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF DESPOTISM

despotism  [ˈdɛspəˌtɪzəm] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF DESPOTISM

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Despotism is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES DESPOTISM MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Despotism

Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an autocracy, or it may be a group, as in an oligarchy. The word despotism means to "rule in the fashion of a despot" and does not necessarily require a singular "despot", an individual. Despot comes from the Greek despotes, which roughly means "master" or "one with power", and it has been used to translate a wide variety of titles and positions. It was used to describe the unlimited power and authority of the Pharaohs of Egypt, employed in the Byzantine court as a title of nobility, used by the rulers of Byzantine vassal states, and adopted as a title of the Byzantine Emperors. Thus, despot is found to have different meanings and interpretations at various times in history and cannot be described by a single definition. This is similar to the other Greek titles basileus and autokrator, which, along with despot, have been used at various times to describe everything from a local chieftain to a simple ruler, king or emperor.

Definition of despotism in the English dictionary

The definition of despotism in the dictionary is the rule of a despot; arbitrary, absolute, or tyrannical government. Other definition of despotism is arbitrary or tyrannical authority or behaviour.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH DESPOTISM


acrobatism
ˈækrəbəˌtɪzəm
astigmatism
əˈstɪɡməˌtɪzəm
automatism
ɔːˈtɒməˌtɪzəm
conservatism
kənˈsɜːvəˌtɪzəm
egotism
ˈiːɡəˌtɪzəm
ergotism
ˈɜːɡəˌtɪzəm
erotism
ˈɛrəˌtɪzəm
exotism
ˈɛɡzəˌtɪzəm
hypnotism
ˈhɪpnəˌtɪzəm
metasomatism
ˌmɛtəˈsəʊməˌtɪzəm
nepotism
ˈnɛpəˌtɪzəm
patriotism
ˈpætrɪəˌtɪzəm
pragmatism
ˈpræɡməˌtɪzəm
prelatism
ˈprɛləˌtɪzəm
quietism
ˈkwaɪəˌtɪzəm
rheumatism
ˈruːməˌtɪzəm
sabbatism
ˈsæbəˌtɪzəm
stigmatism
ˈstɪɡməˌtɪzəm
Suprematism
sʊˈprɛməˌtɪzəm
traumatism
ˈtrɔːməˌtɪzəm

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE DESPOTISM

despoil
despoiler
despoiling
despoilment
despoliation
despond
despondence
despondency
despondent
despondently
despondingly
despot
despotat
despotic
despotical
despotically
despoticalness
despotocracy
despumate
despumation

WORDS THAT END LIKE DESPOTISM

acrotism
antinepotism
autism
autoerotism
compatriotism
dicrotism
helotism
homoerotism
Huguenotism
narcotism
peyotism
photism
polycrotism
polyglotism
quixotism
robotism
Scotism
superpatriotism
sybotism
tricrotism
zealotism

Synonyms and antonyms of despotism in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «DESPOTISM»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «despotism» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of despotism

Translation of «despotism» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF DESPOTISM

Find out the translation of despotism to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of despotism from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «despotism» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

专制
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

despotismo
570 millions of speakers

English

despotism
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

तानाशाही
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الاستبداد
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

деспотизм
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

despotismo
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

স্বৈরতন্ত্র
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

despotisme
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Despotisme
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Despotismus
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

専制政治
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

독재
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Despotism
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

chế độ bạo ngược
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

சர்வாதிகார
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

औपचारिकता
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

despotluk
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

dispotismo
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

despotyzm
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

деспотизм
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

despotism
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

δεσποτισμό
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

despotisme
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

despoti
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

despotisme
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of despotism

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «DESPOTISM»

The term «despotism» is regularly used and occupies the 89.276 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
59
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «despotism» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of despotism
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «despotism».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «DESPOTISM» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «despotism» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «despotism» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about despotism

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «DESPOTISM»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word despotism.
1
Frederic Bastiat
Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism?
2
William Wells Brown
Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous.
3
Georg Buchner
The revolutionary government is the despotism of liberty against tyranny.
4
Mike Crapo
Throwing off despotism and tyranny is our history and part of our national identity - something in which we can take incredible pride.
5
Michel Foucault
Freedom of conscience entails more dangers than authority and despotism.
6
Barry Goldwater
Equality, rightly understood as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences; wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.
7
Angelina Grimke
The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism, and ought to have no place among Republicans and Christians.
8
Alexander Hamilton
Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.
9
William Henry Harrison
The chains of military despotism, once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off.
10
Samuel Horsley
Despotism is the only form of government which may with safety to itself, neglect the education of its infant poor.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «DESPOTISM»

Discover the use of despotism in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to despotism and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Foundations of Despotism: Peasants, the Trujillo Regime, and ...
This book explores the history of the Dominican Republic as it evolved from the first European colony in the Americas into a modern nation under the rule of Rafael Trujillo.
Richard Lee Turits, 2004
2
Lineages of Despotism and Development: British Colonialism ...
Combining statistical analysis with in-depth case studies of former British colonies, this volume argues that direct rule promoted cogent and coherent states with high levels of bureaucratization and inclusiveness, which contributed to ...
Matthew Lange, 2009
3
A Despotism of Law: Crime and Justice in Early Colonial India
This volume deals with law-making as a cultural enterprise in which the colonial state had to draw upon existing normative codes of rank, status and gender, and re-order them to a new and more exclusive definition of the state's sovereign ...
Radhika Singha, 2000
4
Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, ...
To discern the meaning of this malaise we must investigate the nature of liberal democracy, says the author of this provocative book, and he undertakes to do so through a detailed investigation of the thinking of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and ...
Paul Anthony Rahe, 2010
5
The Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom
The Bastille demonstrates the potency of the interdisciplinary historical research that has characterized the end of this century, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, and taking its methodological tools from history, ...
Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink, Rolf Reichardt, 1997
6
Faces of Despotism
What exactly is despotism?
Eric Carlton, 1995
7
Mexico Under Siege: Popular Resistance to Presidential Despotism
Based on two decades of interview material and new documentary sources, this book is the first to consider the full panorama of popular resistance to the alliance between the Mexican state bureaucracy, the president and the business class.
Donald Clark Hodges, Daniel Ross Gandy, Ross Gandy, 2002
8
Tocqueville's Road Map: Methodology, Liberalism, Revolution, ...
These essays focus on specific aspects of Tocqueville's political thought: the methodology that Tocqueville brought to his historical and political writings allowing him to predict so well; his assumptions about what constitutes a ...
Roger Boesche, 2006
9
Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism
Exposing the corporate structures behind exploitative migrant labour programs, this book investigates the use of guest workers in the United States, the largest recipient of migrant labour in the world.
Immanuel Ness, 2011
10
The roots of Haitian despotism
This is a must read for anyone interested in Haitian politics.... a timely and well-researched book on the roots of Haitis authoritarianism and its impact on the countrys development.Francis Pierre-Louis, Jr., Queens College, CUNYWith its ...
Robert Fatton, 2007

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «DESPOTISM»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term despotism is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Now Merkel Knows That 'Greeks Do Not Bow to Financial Despotism'
Merkel, Hollande, Junker, Tusk… They have finally understood that a proud people cannot be subdued by financial despotism," the newspaper ... «Sputnik International, Jul 15»
2
Turkey's opposition problem
And their post-election failure to come up with creative solutions and tactics to tackle Erdogan's despotism shows once again that the ... «Today's Zaman, Jul 15»
3
Ex-TÜBİTAK deputy chief released in report forgery case
... in my book, 'Ömrümü Yedin Bay Böcek' [You Finished Off My Life, Mr. Bug], and resisting the despot [in reference to Erdoğan] and despotism. «Today's Zaman, Jul 15»
4
What media didn't tell you about Greece
So what happens after privatization and despotism under bankers? Of course, the government's revenue goes down and the debt increases ... «Axis of Logic, Jul 15»
5
Annual Fortnight for Freedom Celebrated
In the U.S. and other Western countries, “people of faith are being increasingly subjected to a soft despotism in which ridicule, ostracism and ... «Catholic New York, Jul 15»
6
Maryam Rajavi: We seek an end to religious despotism in Iran
NCRI – The Algerian daily El Watan has interviewed Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), ... «NCR-Iran.org, Jul 15»
7
Greece is the latest battleground in the financial elite's war on …
It is hard for those of us on the left to admit, but Margaret Thatcher saved the UK from this despotism. European monetary union, she predicted, ... «The Guardian, Jul 15»
8
Chiefs do not belong to ZANU PF
The chief was not designed to rule alone. Tyranny and despotism are alien to the African concept of good governance. The Chief ruled with his ... «Nehanda Radio, Jul 15»
9
Sexual Scandal: Law and Justice in Russia
The petition, signed by tens of thousands in a few hours, called for stopping "legal despotism" in the United States and annulling the sentence. «The Moscow Times, Jul 15»
10
Ex-TÜBİTAK deputy chief acquitted in report forgery case
... in my book, 'Ömrümü Yedin Bay Böcek' [You Finished Off My Life, Mr. Bug], and resisting the despot [in reference to Erdoğan] and despotism. «Today's Zaman, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Despotism [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/despotism>. May 2024 ».
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