| / English Dictionary |
DESPOTISM
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
Synonyms:
absolutism; authoritarianism; Caesarism; despotism; dictatorship; monocracy; one-man rule; shogunate; Stalinism; totalitarianism; tyranny
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("despotism" is a kind of...):
autarchy; autocracy (a political system governed by a single individual)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "despotism"):
police state (a country that maintains repressive control over the people by means of police (especially secret police))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Dominance through threat of punishment and violence
Synonyms:
absolutism; despotism; tyranny
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("despotism" is a kind of...):
ascendance; ascendancy; ascendence; ascendency; control; dominance (the state that exists when one person or group has power over another)
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