autocracy

American  

[aw-tok-ruh-see] / ɔˈtɒk rə si /

noun

plural

autocracies

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.

---

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

---

autocracy Cultural  

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

---

Discover More

Iraq under Saddam Hussein is an autocracy.

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. monarchy
• autocracy vs. oligarchy

Example Sentences

While news organizations are in many ways top-down institutions—newsroom editors exercise an autocracy quite rare in other fields—in reality they are bottom-up, their product shaped by those who wield the digital pens.

From The Wall Street Journal

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

Other people in other countries and societies and places have endured and triumphed over autocracy and authoritarianism.

From Salon

While countries like ours may “oscillate a bit and become more or less democratic,” de Mesquita said, there has “never” in history been a mature democracy that has slid into authoritarianism, dictatorship or autocracy.

From Salon

“Every generation has to earn it. Fight for it. Defend it in battle between autocracy and democracy,” he said of the nation’s veterans.

From New York Times

Related Words

• despotism
• dictatorship
• oppression
• tyranny