autocracy

American  

[aw-tok-ruh-see] / ɔˈtɒk rə si /

noun

• autocracies
  plural

1. government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others; the government or power of an absolute monarch.

2. a nation, state, or community ruled by an autocrat.

3. unlimited authority, power, or influence of one person in any group.

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autocracy British  

/ ɔːˈtɒkrəsɪ /

noun

1. government by an individual with unrestricted authority

2. the unrestricted authority of such an individual

3. a country, society, etc, ruled by an autocrat

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autocracy Cultural  

1. A system of government in which supreme political power is held by one person. (Compare constitutional monarchy, democracy, and oligarchy.)

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Discover More

Iraq under Saddam Hussein is an autocracy.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• autocracies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of autocracy

First recorded in 1645–55; from Greek autokráteia “power over oneself, sole power,” from autokrat(ḗs) autocrat + -eia -ia

Compare meaning

How does autocracy compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• autocracy vs. dictatorship
• autocracy vs. oligarchy
• autocracy vs. monarchy

Explanation

An autocracy is a government controlled by one person with absolute power. As unlimited power doesn't usually bring out the best in people, autocracies are often brutal regimes. The word autocracy comes from the Greek roots auto ("self") and kratos ("power"). If your boss dictates your every move and leaves you no say at all in how you do your work, then you're not in a democratic workplace, you're in an autocracy.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

autocracy autocracies

Mr. Beevor disagrees, arguing that Rasputin “contributed more than any other individual to the collapse of the greatest autocracy in the world.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Back then, Florida’s student government had a reputation of operating a little like an autocracy.

From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2025

Now the formally restless Susan Choi turns to social realism in her beguiling if baggy “Flashlight,“ mapping a family’s journey among political autocracy and personal pain, from Midwestern cornfields to the Pacific Rim.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2025

The Pope spoke to a crowd of thousands in St Peter's Square to warn against marginalisation of the poor and autocracy.

From BBC ● May 18, 2025

Although his reign may have begun idealistically, Cahokia quickly became an autocracy; in an Ozymandiac extension of his ego, the supreme leader set in motion the construction projects.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

A common and mostly true dictum holds that democratic societies possess a capacity for self-criticism and self-correction that autocracies don’t.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

Though in fairness, the app has stood firm against other censorship orders from autocracies like Myanmar and Russia, the latter of which temporarily banned the app in 2018.

From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2024

Founded in 1967, the often-unwieldy collective of democracies, autocracies and monarchies has been held together for decades by bedrock principles of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs and consensus-based decision-making.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 9, 2023

It reported significant mobilization in countries like Bolivia, Poland and Malawi, and mass protests in 34 autocracies, including Algeria, Hong Kong and Sudan.

From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2023

Under a democratic regime the standard is very different from that which has existed, for the most part, under autocracies in past ages.

From The Fighting Governer : A Chronicle of Frontenac by Charles W. (Charles William) Colby

Related Words

• despotism
• dictatorship
• oppression
• tyranny