Despot

//ˈdɛs.pət// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A ruler with absolute power; a tyrant.

    "The Red Holocaust is best interpreted in this light as the bitter fruit of an^([sic]) utopian gambit that was socially misengineered into a dystopic nightmare by despots in humanitarian disguise."

  2. 2
    a cruel and oppressive dictator wordnet
  3. 3
    A title awarded to senior members of the imperial family in the late Byzantine Empire, and claimed by various independent or semi-autonomous rulers in the Balkans (12th to 15th centuries) historical

Synonyms

All synonyms
tyrantabsolute monarchabsolute rulerall-powerful rulerarrogatorautarch

Example

More examples

"The despot was seen surrounded by demonstrators."

Etymology

From Middle French despote, from Old French despote, from Medieval Latin despota, from Ancient Greek δεσπότης (despótēs, “lord, master, owner”). Cognate with Sanskrit दम्पति (dámpati).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.