autocracy

noun

au·​toc·​ra·​cy ȯ-ˈtä-krə-sē 

plural autocracies

1

: the authority or rule of an autocrat

2

: government in which one person possesses unlimited power

3

: a community or state governed by autocracy

Synonyms

• absolutism
• autarchy
• authoritarianism
• Caesarism
• czarism
• tsarism
• tzarism
• despotism
• dictatorship
• totalism
• totalitarianism
• tyranny

Examples of autocracy in a Sentence

the Magna Carta is historically important because it signified the British rejection of autocracy and constituted the first formal restraining of the power of the monarch

Recent Examples on the Web

Purists insist on gin, of course, but given my national background growing up in a famous autocracy high up by the Gulf of Finland, my constitution prefers vodka for the recovery process the morning after. —Gary Shteyngart, The New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2024

Politics matter, even under autocracies and, in the Middle East, political forces move seamlessly between the domestic and the regional. —Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2024

China’s autocracy side-steps such policy messiness, proceeding in unchanging, half-decade increments with its serial five-year plans. —Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 1 Apr. 2024

Something extraordinary happened last Sunday in a small nation on the west coast of Africa, at a time when strongman regimes and outright autocracies are on the rise around the globe. —Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Mar. 2024

In autocracies, much of politics ends up revolving around the obsessions of the supreme leader — in Putin’s case, eliminating all personal political competition and destroying Ukraine as a large and thriving Western-leaning democracy on Russia’s border. —Catherine Belton, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2024

They are being overrun by autocracies around the world. —Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 8 Apr. 2024

In a sense, one version of this autocracy is replaced with another — and nothing changes much for the people who live at the whims of the ruling class. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 7 Apr. 2024

Last May, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey handily secured another term as head of state, shattering the morale of the political opposition and raising fears among his critics that his hold on the government would enable him to further edge Turkey toward autocracy. —Ben Hubbard, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

earlier, "self-control," borrowed from Greek autokrateîa "self-control, power over oneself," from autokratḗs "ruling by itself (of a mind), with sole authority (for a task)" + -ia -y entry 2 — more at autocrat

Note: The word acquired the present meaning under the influence of Latin autocratōr (from about the fifth century on) and Greek autokrátōr, meaning "with sole authority," and later by association with autocrat. See note at autocrat.

First Known Use

1659, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

autocracy

noun

au·​toc·​ra·​cy ȯ-ˈtäk-rə-sē 

plural autocracies

: government in which one person has unlimited power