autocracy

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ɔˈtɑkrəsi/ UK /ɔːˈtɒkrəsi/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
government by a single person holding absolute power

The republic slowly hardened into an autocracy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · government by a single... dictatorship despotism tyranny absolutismtotalitarianismmonocracy

Opposites

democracy republic oligarchy anarchy

Word family

Related forms autocratautocraticautocratical

Etymology

From Ancient Greek autokrateia ('absolute rule'), from autokrates ('ruling by oneself'), from autos ('self') + kratos ('power, rule').

autokrateia Ancient Greek autos Ancient Greek kratos Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# autocracy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ɔˈtɑkrəsi
**IPA (UK):** ɔːˈtɒkrəsi

## Meanings
1. government by a single person holding absolute power

## Examples
- The republic slowly hardened into an autocracy.

## Synonyms
- dictatorship
- despotism
- tyranny
- absolutism
- totalitarianism
- monocracy

## Antonyms
- democracy
- republic
- oligarchy
- anarchy

## Related Forms
- autocrat
- autocratic
- autocratical

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: autokrateia
- Root: autos
- Root: kratos
- Affix: -cracy - rule

## Etymology
From Ancient Greek autokrateia ('absolute rule'), from autokrates ('ruling by oneself'), from autos ('self') + kratos ('power, rule').

## AI Etymology
autocracy comes from Ancient Greek autokrateia ('absolute rule'), from autokrates ('ruling by oneself'), from autos ('self') + kratos ('power, rule'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "government by a single person holding absolute power", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as autocrat, autocratic, autocratical, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Ancient Greek autokrateia, Ancient Greek autos, Ancient Greek kratos, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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autocracy

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