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. monarchy
• autocracy vs. oligarchy

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

For the Athenians, demokratia, literally “people power,” meant endlessly striving to find ways of harnessing the tendency of leaders toward autocracy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 2026

“An autocracy needs to create an in-group versus an out-group,” Corrales explained.

From Slate ● Jan. 15, 2026

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

The Games were held in the middle of autocracies, the middle of pandemics and the middle of nowhere.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 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

When we picture the ways autocracies end and, more specifically, how dictators end, the greatest hits to mind.

From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024

Will Tracy, the show’s creator and co-writer, said he read 20 books about autocracies, authoritarian leaders and totalitarian states to develop the six episodes.

From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2024

AMERICA.—In the third year of the War America had gradually been brought into the arena, and a further miscalculation arrayed the hundred millions of a free and united nation against the autocracies of Central Europe.

From Lectures on Land Warfare; A tactical Manual for the Use of Infantry Officers An Examination of the Principles Which Underlie the Art of Warfare, with Illustrations of the Principles by Examples Taken from Military History, from the Battle of Thermopylae, B.C. 480, to the Battle of the Sambre, November 1-11, 1918 by Anonymous

Related Words

• despotism
• dictatorship
• oppression
• tyranny