Autocrat
//ˈɔːtəkɹæt// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An absolute ruler with infinite power.
"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."
- 2 a cruel and oppressive dictator wordnet
- 3 A title borne by some such monarchs, as in Byzantium and tsarist Russia.
- 4 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.
Example
More examples"The autocrat strove in vain to deal with the situation."
Etymology
Borrowed from French autocrate, itself from Ancient Greek αὐτοκρατής (autokratḗs, “sovereign”), from αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) (combining form of αὐτός (autós)) + κράτος (krátos, “strength, power”) + -ης (-ēs). By surface analysis, auto- + -crat.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.