Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Despotism |
DespotismNoun1. 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.). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "despotism" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Etymology: Despotism \Des"po*tism\, noun. [Compare to the French expression despotisme.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Despotism is government by a singular authority - either a single person or tightly knit group - which rules with absolute power. The word implies tyrannical rule; it suggests a form of government which exercises exacting and near-absolute control over all of its citizens.A variation of the term is benevolent despotism, which refers specifically to a form of rulership that came to prominence in the eighteenth century. In this instance, the absolute monarchs ruling certain nations used their authority to institute a number of reforms in the political and social structures of their countries. This movement was probably largely triggered by the ideals of the Enlightenment.
- See also: dictatorship, monarchy, oligarchy
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Despotism."
Synonyms: DespotismSynonyms: absolutism (n), authoritarianism (n), dictatorship (n), monocracy (n), one-man rule (n), shogunate (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. |
Illegality | Arbitrariness; Adjective: antinomy, violence, brute force, despotism, outlawry. |
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: Despotism |
| English words defined with "despotism": Despotist. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "despotism": Dictator ♦ Emancipation ♦ Republic. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Despotism" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Romanian (arbitrariness, despotism), Swedish (autarchy, despotism). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | The champion of despotism. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
John Stuart Mill | What ever crushes individuality is despotism, no matter what name it is called. |
| The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement. | |
Marquis De Sade | Religions are the cradles of despotism. |
Oscar Wilde | Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things. |
Plato | Democracy passes in to despotism. |
Senator Daniel Webster | Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may. |
Thomas Jefferson | Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
US Declaration of Independence | 1776 | But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. (reference) |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | The more openly this despotism proclaims gain to be its end and aim, the more petty, the more hatef ul and the more embittering it is. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Neither despotism, nor terrorism |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | EMANCIPATION, n. A bondman's change from the tyranny of another to the despotism of himself. He was a slave: at word he went and came; His iron collar cut him to the bone. Then Liberty erased his owner's name, Tightened the rivets and inscribed his own. G.J. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | Whether this was the transitory effect of capricious despotism or the first act of predetermined hostility is not ascertained. |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | That such a country should have been overwhelmed and so long hidden, as it were, from the world under a gloomy despotism has been a cause of unceasing and deep regret to generous minds for ages past. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | Wherever this spirit has effected an alliance with political power, tyranny and despotism have been the fruit. |
Abraham Lincoln | 1861-1865 | Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. |
Calvin Coolidge | 1923-1929 | Under a despotism the law may be imposed upon the subject. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Despotism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Despotism" is used about 93 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) | 100% | 93 | 34,067 |
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 |
despotism | 9 |
enlightened despotism | 7 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "despotism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | despotizëm (autarchy, highhandedness), tirani (oppression, tyranny). (various references) | |
Arabic | طغيان (oppression, tyranny), الحكم المطلق, إستبداد (tyranny). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | деспотство. (various references) | |
Czech | despotismus, zvùle, krutovláda. (various references) | |
Finnish | hirmuvalta (terrorism, tyranny). (various references) | |
French | despotisme. (various references) | |
German | Despotismus. (various references) | |
Greek | απολυταρχία (absolutism, autarchy, authoritarian, autocracy), τυραννία (tyranny), δεσποτισμόσ (autocracy, imperiousness). (various references) | |
Hebrew | עריצות (ruthlessness, tyranny), רודנות (dictatorship, tyranny). (various references) | |
Hungarian | zsarnokság (absolutism, oppression, tyranny), önkényuralom (autocracy, absolutism). (various references) | |
Indonesian | despotisme, kesewenangan (arbitrariness), kelaliman (cruelty, oppression, tyranny). (various references) | |
Italian | dispotismo. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 虐政 (tyranny), 苛政 (tyranny), 独裁国家 (dictatorship), 独裁 (dictatorship), 圧制 (oppression, tyranny), デジタル通信 (copy editor, dead, dead copy, dead end, dead heat, dead stock, dead time, deadline, deadlock, death, death education, death mask, debug, debugger, debugging, deck, deck chair, dedicate, dedication, deduction, de-escalate, de-escalation, Denebola, denier, denim, denomination, denotation, denotational, department, department store, departure, description, desk, desk plan, desk work, desk-top, desperate, desperate struggle, destination, destroyer, detached coat, detail, detector, detente, deterrent gap, Detroit, devaluation, device, digital communication, distributor cap, divider, fight to a finish, hit a batter by pitching a ball, rough sketch, to eat at Denny's), 横暴 (high-handedness, oppression, tyranny, violence), 専横 (arbitrariness, tyranny), 専制 (autocracy), 専制 (autocracy). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ぎゃくせい (tyranny), おうぼう (high-handedness, oppression, tyranny, violence), デスポティズム , どくさいこっか (dictatorship), どくさい (dictatorship), せんおう (arbitrariness, good ancient kings, the late king, the preceding king, tyranny, usurper king), せんせい (abjuration, ancient sage, autocracy, Confucius, doctor, headstart, master, oath, preempt, teacher), かせい (assistance, backing, caustic, change, clearing of the river water, false, falsetto, force of flames, great poet, growth, honour of the family, household economy, Mars, metamorphosis, reinforcements, section system, transformation, tyranny), あっせい (despotic administration, oppression, political pressure, power politics, tyranny). (various references) | |
Manx | tranlaase (harassment, oppression, persecution, tyranny). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | espotismday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | despotismo (absolutism, oppression). (various references) | |
Romanian | despotism (arbitrariness), tiranie (tyranny), samavolnicie (arbitrariness). (various references) | |
Russian | произвол (arbitrariness, highhandedness, high-handedness), деспотия. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | despotizam (tyranny), tiranija (tyranny). (various references) | |
Spanish | despotismo. (various references) | |
Swedish | despotism (autarchy), enväldig (autocratic, sovereign). (various references) | |
Turkish | despotluk, zorbalık (extortion, fist law, headiness, outrage, overbearance, rough stuff, ruffianism, tyranny, violence). (various references) | |
Turkmen | eden-etdilik (arbitrariness, tyranny). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | сваволя, тиранія (oppression, tyranny), деспотичність, деспотизм (arbitrariness). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | chế độ chuyên quyền. (various references) | |
Welsh | unbennaeth (autocracy, sovereignty), unbeiniaeth (supremacy), archdeyrnaeth (monarchy). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | dominatio, dominatione, dominationem, dominationemque, dominationes, dominationis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "despotism": despotisms. (additional references) | |
| |
"Despotism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: depotism, despetism, despostism, despotis, despotisn. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "despotism" (pronounced de"sputi'zum) |
| 7 | -p u t i' z u m | nepotism. |
| 6 | -u t i' z u m | astigmatism, patriotism, pragmatism, conservatism, corporatism, diamagnetism, dogmatism, egotism, electromagnetism, ergotism, favoritism, ferromagnetism, helotism, hypnotism, magnetism, rheumatism, separatism. |
| 5 | -t i' z u m | absolutism, autism, baptism, pietism, defeatism, elitism, Irredentism, leftism, 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 "d-e-i-m-o-p-s-s-t" | |
-1 letter: deposits, distomes, imposted, modistes, topsides. | |
-2 letters: deposit, despots, dispose, distome, dopiest, imposed, imposes, imposts, misdoes, misstep, misstop, mitoses, modiste, mopiest, optimes, podites, posited, potsies, somites, sopited, sopites, stomped, topside. | |
-3 letters: deisms, deists, demits, depots, desist, despot, dipsos, dismes, estops, impose, impost, midsts, mioses, missed, misset, misted, modest, mopeds, mossed, odists, optime, pestos, pissed. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-e-i-m-o-p-s-s-t" | |
+1 letter: despotisms, misstopped. | |
+3 letters: despoilments, disportments. | |
+4 letters: mispositioned, postmodernism, postmodernist, pteridosperms, spermatozoids. | |
+5 letters: compassionated, decompositions, endoparasitism, misdescription, moderatorships, postmodernisms, postmodernists, pseudonymities, stapedectomies, superdiplomats. | |
| 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. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
