Synonyms for despotism
ˈdɛs pəˌtɪz əmdespo·tism

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. despotismnoun

   Synonyms:
   tyranny

2. despotismnoun

   government by a singular authority, either a single person or tight-knit group, which rules with absolute power

   Synonyms:
   tyranny

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. absolutism, tyranny, despotismnoun

   dominance through threat of punishment and violence

   Synonyms:
   shogunate, totalism, dictatorship, authoritarianism, one-man rule, absolutism, tyranny, monocracy, totalitarianism

2. dictatorship, absolutism, authoritarianism, Caesarism, despotism, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate, Stalinism, totalitarianism, tyrannynoun

   a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

   Synonyms:
   shogunate, totalism, dictatorship, authoritarianism, one-man rule, tyranny, absolutism, monocracy, totalitarianism

Matched Categories

1. • Autocracy
   • Dominance

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. despotismnoun

   Synonyms:
   autocracy, absolutism, dictatorship, tyranny, absolute power, arbitrary rule

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. despotismnoun

   Synonyms:
   absolutism, autocracy, tyranny

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "despotism":

   high-handedness, arbitrariness, tyranny, authoritarianism

How to pronounce despotism?

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How to use despotism in a sentence?

1. John Stuart Mill:

   The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement, being in unceasing antagonism to that disposition to aim at something better than customary,....

2. Fisher Ames:

   Liberty has never lasted long in a democracy, nor has it ever ended in anything better than despotism.

3. Abraham Lincoln:

   Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics.' When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy hypocrisy.

4. Angelica Grimke:

   The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism, and ought to have no place among Republicans and Christians.

5. Ben Carson:

   I beg to differ, if you go back and look at the history of the world, tyranny and despotism and how it starts, it has a lot to do with control of thought and control of speech.