absolutism

ab·so·lut·ism

noun \ˈab-sə-ˌlü-ˌti-zəm\

Definition of ABSOLUTISM

1

a : a political theory that absolute power should be vested in one or more rulers

b : government by an absolute ruler or authority : despotism

2

: advocacy of a rule by absolute standards or principles

3

: an absolute standard or principle

— ab·so·lut·ist \-ˌlü-tist\ noun or adjective

— ab·so·lu·tis·tic \ˌab-sə-(ˌ)lü-ˈtis-tik\ adjective

Examples of ABSOLUTISM

1. <concerning absolutism Lord Acton famously observed that “absolute power corrupts absolutely”>

First Known Use of ABSOLUTISM

1830

Related to ABSOLUTISM

Synonyms

despotism, autarchy, authoritarianism, autocracy, Caesarism, czarism (also tsarism or tzarism), dictatorship, totalism, totalitarianism, tyranny

Related Words

monarchism, monarchy, monocracy; Big Brother, Big Brotherism, Communism, fascism, Nazism; domination, oppression

Near Antonyms

democracy, self-governance, self-government, self-rule; freedom, self-determination; autonomy, sovereignty (also sovranty)

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

Rhymes with ABSOLUTISM

absenteeism, abstractionism, adventurism, aestheticism, Afrocentrism, agnosticism, alcoholism, amateurism, anabaptism, anachronism, Anglicanism, animalism, antagonism, Arianism, astigmatism, athleticism, automatism, behaviorism, Big Brotherism, bilingualism, Bonapartism, cannibalism, capitalism, Cartesianism, Catholicism, charlatanism, collectivism, commercialism, communalism, Confucianism, conservatism, constructivism, consumerism, corporatism, creationism, determinism, do-nothingism, eclecticism, ecotourism, ecumenism, egocentrism, empiricism, epicurism, eroticism, essentialism, ethnocentrism, evangelism, exoticism, expansionism, expressionism, Fabianism, factionalism, fanaticism, favoritism, federalism, Fenianism, feuilletonism, Fourierism, fraternalism, Freudianism, funambulism, functionalism, hermeticism, Hispanicism, historicism, hooliganism, illiberalism, illusionism, impressionism, infantilism, inflationism, initialism, insularism, irredentism, Jacobinism, Keynesianism, know-nothingism, lesbianism, liberalism, libertinism, literalism, Lutheranism, Lysenkoism, magic realism, malapropism, mercantilism, messianism, metabolism, metamorphism, militarism, minimalism, monasticism, monotheism, mutualism, naturalism, Naziritism, negativism, neologism, neo-Nazism, neorealism, nominalism, nonconformism, objectivism, obscurantism, obstructionism, opportunism, pacificism, parallelism, pastoralism, paternalism, patriotism, Peeping Tomism, perfectionism, photo-realism, plebeianism, polytheism, positivism, postmodernism, primitivism, progressivism, protectionism, Protestantism, provincialism, puritanism, radicalism, rationalism, recidivism, reductionism, regionalism, relativism, revisionism, revivalism, ritualism, romanticism, salvationism, sansculottism, scholasticism, sectionalism, secularism, separatism, serialism, Slavophilism, somnambulism, Stakhanovism, structuralism, subjectivism, teetotalism, theocentrism, triumphalism, Uncle Tomism, ventriloquism, vigilantism, workaholism

absolutism

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Political doctrine and practice of unlimited, centralized authority and absolute sovereignty, especially as vested in a monarch. Its essence is that the ruling power is not subject to regular challenge or check by any judicial, legislative, religious, economic, or electoral agency. Though it has been used throughout history, the form that developed in early modern Europe (16th–18th century) became the prototype; Louis XIV is seen as the epitome of European absolutism. Religious authority was assumed by the monarch, who became the head of the church as well as the state, on the basis that the right to rule came from God (see divine kingship). See also authoritarianism, dictatorship, totalitarianism.