autocrat

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French autocrate, itself from Ancient Greek αὐτοκρατής (autokratḗs, “sovereign”), from αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) (combinatory form of αὐτός (autós)) + κρατία (kratía, “rule”) (from κράτος (krátos, “strength, power”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔːtəkɹæt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

autocrat (plural autocrats)

1. An absolute ruler with infinite power.

   Synonyms: autocrator, despot, dictator, monarch, tyrant, strongman

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Secretaryship”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 131:

     Your salary is high; you are to have apartments in the house; and to be the autocrat of the library, where, I shrewdly suspect, your reign will be undisturbed.

   • 2022 August 2, Nancy Pelosi, “Nancy Pelosi: Why I’m leading a congressional delegation to Taiwan”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], archived from the original on 02 August 2022, Opinion:

     Indeed, we take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. As Russia wages its premeditated, illegal war against Ukraine, killing thousands of innocents — even children — it is essential that America and our allies make clear that we never give in to autocrats.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:autocrat.
2. A title borne by some such monarchs, as in Byzantium and tsarist Russia.
3. Until the 20th century, a favorable description of a ruler who was connected with the concept of lack of conflicts of interest and an indication of grandeur and power.

Derived terms

• autocratess
• autocratic
• autocratical
• autocratship

 

Related terms

• autocracy

Translations

ruler with absolute power

• Albanian: autokrat (sq) m
• Arabic: مُسْتَبِدّ m (mustabidd), جَبَّار m (jabbār)
• Armenian: ինքնակալ (hy) (inkʻnakal)
• Azerbaijani: avtokrat
• Belarusian: аўтакра́т m (aŭtakrát), аўтакра́тка f (aŭtakrátka), самаўла́дца m (samaŭládca), самадзе́ржац m (samadzjéržac)
• Bulgarian: автокра́т (bg) m (avtokrát), автокра́тка f (avtokrátka), самодържа́вец m (samodǎržávec)
• Burmese: သက်ဦးဆံပိုင် (my) (sak-u:hcampuing)
• Catalan: autòcrata (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獨裁者／独裁者 (zh) (dúcáizhě)

• Czech: samovládce (cs) m, autokrat (cs) m
• Danish: autokrat c
• Dutch: autocraat (nl) m, alleenheerser (nl) m
• Esperanto: aŭtokrato
• Estonian: autokraat
• Faroese: einaveldisharri m, einaræðisharri m
• Finnish: itsevaltias (fi)
• French: autocrate (fr) m or f
• Georgian: ავტოკრატი (avṭoḳraṭi)
• German: Autokrat (de) m, Autokratin (de) f
• Greek: δεσπότης (el) m (despótis)
• Hebrew: אוטוֹקְרָט (he) m (aotokrát)
• Hindi: तानाशाह (hi) m (tānāśāh)
• Hungarian: zsarnok (hu)
• Ido: autokrato (io)
• Indonesian: autokrat (id)
• Irish: uathlathaí m
• Italian: autocrate (it) m
• Japanese: 独裁者 (ja) (どくさいしゃ, dokusaisha)
• Kazakh: автократ (avtokrat)
• Khmer: អត្តាធិបតី (ʼattaathipaʼdəy)
• Korean: 독재자(獨裁者) (ko) (dokjaeja)
• Kyrgyz: автократ (avtokrat)
• Lao: ຜະເດັດການ (pha det kān)
• Latvian: autokrāts m, patvaldnieks m
• Lithuanian: autokratas m, autokratė f
• Macedonian: автокра́т m (avtokrát), автокра́тка f (avtokrátka), самовласник m (samovlasnik)
• Malay: autokrat
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дарангуйлагч (mn) (darangujlagč)

  Mongolian: ᠳᠠᠷᠤᠩᠭᠤᠢᠯᠠᠭᠴᠢ (darungɣuilaɣči)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: autokrat m

• Persian: خدایگان (fa) (xodâygân), خداوندگار (fa) (xodâvandgâr), خداوند (fa) (xodâvand), خودکامه (fa) (xodkâme), مستبد (fa) (mostabedd)
• Polish: autokrata (pl) m, autokratka (pl) f, samowładca m, samowładczyni f
• Portuguese: autocrata (pt) m or f
• Romanian: autocrat (ro) m
• Russian: автокра́т (ru) m (avtokrát), самоде́ржец (ru) m (samodéržec), самодержа́вец (ru) m (samoderžávec)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: самодр̀жац m, самовла̀да̄р m, ауто̀кра̄т m

  Roman: samodr̀žac (sh) m, samovlàdār (sh) m, autòkrāt (sh) m

• Slovak: autokrat m, samovládca m
• Slovene: avtokrat m, avtokratinja f
• Spanish: autócrata (es) m
• Swedish: autokrat (sv) c, självhärskare (sv) c, envåldshärskare (sv) c
• Tajik: автократ (avtokrat), мустабид (mustabid)
• Thai: เผด็จการ (th) (pà-dèt-gaan)
• Turkish: otokrat (tr)
• Turkmen: awtokrat
• Ukrainian: автокра́т (uk) m (avtokrát), автокра́тка f (avtokrátka), самоде́ржець m (samodéržecʹ), самодержа́вець m (samoderžávecʹ)
• Uzbek: avtokrat
• Vietnamese: người chuyên quyền

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “autocrat”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• actuator

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French autocrate, itself from Ancient Greek αὐτοκρατής (autokratḗs, “sovereign”), from αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) (combinatory form of αὐτός (autós)) + κρατία (kratía, “rule”) (from κράτος (krátos, “strength, power”)).

Noun

autocrat m (plural autocrați)

1. autocrat

Declension

Declension of autocrat

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) autocrat	autocratul	(niște) autocrați	autocrații
genitive/dative	(unui) autocrat	autocratului	(unor) autocrați	autocraților
vocative	autocratule		autocraților

Related terms

• autocrație