autocracy
Americannoun
PLURAL
autocracies-
government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others; the government or power of an absolute monarch.
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a nation, state, or community ruled by an autocrat.
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unlimited authority, power, or influence of one person in any group.
noun
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government by an individual with unrestricted authority
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the unrestricted authority of such an individual
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a country, society, etc, ruled by an autocrat
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Iraq under Saddam Hussein is an autocracy.
Etymology
Origin of autocracy
First recorded in 1645–55; from Greek autokráteia “power over oneself, sole power,” from autokrat(ḗs) autocrat + -eia -ia
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pakistan's parliament has voted to give army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir new powers and lifetime immunity from arrest and prosecution, a move that critics say paves the way towards autocracy.
From BBC
The window to autocracy remains open, but the election showed that we can see through it, and that clarity is the first step toward closing it.
From Salon
More importantly, it is based on the obsolete assumption that America is a healthy democracy instead of one that is rapidly collapsing into a state of autocracy.
From Salon
It will demand careful attention to the cognitive toll of living under an absurd autocracy that claims to defend democracy while simultaneously dismantling it.
From Salon
He has shown that autocracies redistribute more land than democracies and that in Colombia land reform “reduced guerrilla activity” in those areas that “threatened serious violence.”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
