Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Absolutism |
AbsolutismNoun1. Dominance through threat of punishment and violence. 2. A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.). 3. The principle of complete and unrestricted power in government. 4. The doctrine of an absolute being. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "absolutism" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Absolutism is a political theory which argues that one person (generally, a monarch) should hold all power. This is often referred to as the "Divine Right of Kings", implying that a ruler's authority stems directly from God. Prominent theorists associated with absolutism inlude Augustine of Hippo, Paul of Tarsus, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, and Thomas Hobbes.Hobbes, in his philosophy of natural law, believed that absolutist rulers emerged according to the baser instincts of humans, specifically their fear of death and their need for power. In his philosophy, there could be no social order without the ceding of power to a single individual who would use power to restrain the violent and anti-social tendencies of the people.
To those who believed the absolute ruler was chosen by God, rebellion against the monarch was tantamount to rebellion against God. Hence, rule was considered "absolute," in that the ruler could not be challenged.
Later absolutist rulers sometimes tried to rule according to Enlightenment principles, and so are called enlightened absolutists. They attempted to allow their subjects to live more freely in their day-to-day lives, while still maintaining the autocratic monarchy.
Absolutism, as a term, did not appear until the 19th century, when the traditional "age of absolutism" had passed.
Some historians see the Absolutist Monarchs as a direct consequence of the centralization of the state under the New Monarchs.
Absolutist Monarchs
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Absolutism."
Synonyms: AbsolutismSynonyms: authoritarianism (n), despotism (n), dictatorship (n), monocracy (n), one-man rule (n), shogunate (n), totalism (n), totalitarianism (n), tyranny (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Authority | Divine right, dynastic rights, authoritativeness; absoluteness, absolutism; despotism; jus nocendi; jus divinum. |
Severity | Arbitrary power; absolutism, despotism; dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression; assumption, usurpation; inquisition, reign of terror, martial law; iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway; tight grasp; brute force, brute strength; coercion; strong hand, tight hand. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Absolutism |
| English words defined with "absolutism": absolutist. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Absolutism" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Romanian (absolutism), Swedish (absolutism, teetotalism). |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | The serf, in the period of serfdom, raised himself to membership in the commune, just as the petty bourgeois, under the yoke of feudal absolutism, managed to develop into a bourgeois. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Chile | The system of presidential absolutism eventually predominated, but wealthy landowners continued to control Chile. (references) |
Political Economy | Denmark | With a few amendments (the latest and most comprehensive in 1953), the Constitution dates from 1849, when the King renounced absolutism. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Absolutism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.36% of the time. "Absolutism" is used about 61 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.36% | 60 | 43,597 |
| Noun (common) | 1.64% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 61 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
absolutism | 99 |
age of absolutism | 13 |
absolutism ethical | 3 |
absolutism age charles v | 3 |
absolutism relativism | 2 |
french absolutism | 2 |
absolutism definition | 2 |
absolutism enlightened | 2 |
absolutism france in | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "absolutism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | absolutisme. (various references) | |
Albanian | absolutizëm. (various references) | |
Arabic | نظرية سياسية, حكم دكتاتوري مطلق. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | самодържавие (autocracy), неограничена власт (freehand), абсолютизъм. (various references) | |
Chinese | "制主义 (Autocracies, Autocracy). (various references) | |
Czech | absolutismus. (various references) | |
Dutch | absolutisme. (various references) | |
Esperanto | absolutismo. (various references) | |
Finnish | itsevaltius (autocracy). (various references) | |
French | absolutisme. (various references) | |
German | Absolutismus. (various references) | |
Greek | απολυταρχισμόσ (authoritarianism), απολυταρχία (autarchy, authoritarian, autocracy, despotism), απολυτοκρατία. (various references) | |
Hawaiian | absolutizëm. (various references) | |
Hebrew | אבסולוטיות. (various references) | |
Hungarian | zsarnokság (despotism, dictatorship, oppression, tyranny, victimization), predesztináció (predestination, predetermination), kizárólagosság (exclusiveness), feltétlenség, abszolutizmus, önkényuralom (autocracy, despotism, tyranny). (various references) | |
Icelandic | alræðisstjórn, einræðisstjórn. (various references) | |
Indonesian | absolutisme. (various references) | |
Italian | assolutismo. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 絶対論 , 絶対主義 , アフリカ民族会議 (a priori, abnormal, abseiling, absinthe, abstract, abstract art, abstraction, adding sounds to a soundtrack after a film has been made, African National Congress, Afro, Afro-Cuban rhythm, Afro-hair, ahead, ANC, APL, application, application program, application software, apply, approach, approach light, approach shot, apres-guerre, apricot, dubbing, lowering on a rope, postlooping, postrecording, postsynchronization). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ぜったいしゅぎ, ぜったいろ", アブソリューティズ . (various references) | |
Manx | absaloidaghys. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | absolutismay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | absolutismo. (various references) | |
Romanian | absolutism. (various references) | |
Russian | абсолютизм. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | apsolutizam (autarchy), neograničena vladavina. (various references) | |
Spanish | absolutismo (absoluteness). (various references) | |
Swedish | envälde (autarchy, autocracy, dictatorship). (various references) | |
Turkish | saltçılık (autocracy), mutlâkiyet. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | абсолютизм. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | chính thể chuyên chế (tyranny). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "absolutism": absolutisms. (additional references) | |
| |
"Absolutism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: assolutas. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "absolutism" (pronounced a"bsuluw'ti'zum) |
| 5 | -t i' z u m | astigmatism, autism, baptism, nepotism, patriotism, pietism, pragmatism, conservatism, corporatism, defeatism, despotism, diamagnetism, dogmatism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, ergotism, favoritism, ferromagnetism, helotism, hypnotism, Irredentism, leftism, magnetism, rheumatism, separatism, statism, vigilantism. |
| 4 | -i' z u m | absenteeism, abolitionism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, alcoholism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, barbarism, bilingualism, bolshevism, boosterism, botulism, mechanism, mercantilism, mesmerism, metabolism, methodism, microorganism, militarism, minimalism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, mysticism, narcissism, nationalism, nativism, naturalism, negativism, neutralism, nihilism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, ostracism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parallelism, parkinsonism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, perfectionism, pessimism, pharisaism, plagiarism, pluralism, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, positivism, professionalism, protectionism, provincialism, puritanism, racialism, racism, radicalism, realism, cannibalism, capitalism, catechism, centralism, chauvinism, classicism, collectivism, colonialism, commercialism, communism, consumerism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, dandyism, deism, determinism, diastrophism, dimorphism, Druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, embolism, emotionalism, empiricism, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, evangelism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, factionalism, fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, federalism, feminism, fetishism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, gradualism, hedonism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, idealism, illusionism, imperialism, impressionism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, journalism, legalism, lesbianism, liberalism, lyricism, mannerism, masochism, materialism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, romanticism, sadism, satanism, sectarianism, secularism, sensationalism, sexism, skepticism, socialism, stoicism, supernaturalism, surrealism, symbolism, synergism, territorialism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vandalism, vegetarianism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism. |
| 3 | -z u m | bosom, microcosm, neoplasm, orgasm, phantasm, prism, careerism, chasm, cytoplasm, enthusiasm, iconoclasm, ism, sarcasm, schism, spasm. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-i-l-m-o-s-s-t-u" | |
-1 letter: botulisms. | |
-2 letters: bailouts, botulism, outsails, solatium, subatoms, taboulis. | |
-3 letters: autisms, bailout, biomass, missout, oblasti, oblasts, outsail, smaltos, somital, subatom, sublots, submits, subsoil, tabouli, tabulis, timbals, tissual, ultimas. | |
-4 letters: albums, almost, ambits, assoil, autism, basils, biotas, blasts, bloats, boasts, iambus, labium, limbas, limbos, limbus, lissom, litmus, maists, maloti, miaous, miauls, missal, moults, oblast, ostium, sabots. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-i-l-m-o-s-s-t-u" | |
+1 letter: absolutisms. | |
+2 letters: abstemiously, somnambulist, sublimations. | |
+3 letters: automobilists, noctambulists, somnambulists. | |
+4 letters: somnambulistic, subnormalities. | |
+5 letters: discombobulates, somnambulations. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Historic 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
