despotism

English

Etymology

From French despotisme; equivalent to despot +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈdɛspətɪzəm/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

despotism (countable and uncountable, plural despotisms)

government by a singular authority, either a single person or tight-knit group, which rules with absolute power, especially in a cruel and oppressive way.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 24531354, 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, Richard Nixon on "Inside Washington"‎, Richard Nixon Foundation, 4:50 from the start:
  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

tyranny

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) (bṙnapetutʿyun), բռնակալություն (hy) (bṙnakalutʿyun)
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)
Hungarian: despotizmus (hu)
Icelandic: harðstjórn f
Ido: despoteso (io)
Indonesian: despotisme (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)
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
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)
Uzbek: despotiya (uz), istibdod (uz), zulm (uz)
Volapük: däspot (vo)

Anagrams

misposted

Romanian

Etymology

From French despotisme.

Noun

despotism n (uncountable)

despotism

Declension

declension of despotism (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) despotism	despotismul
genitive/dative	(unui) despotism	despotismului
vocative	despotismule