Emperorism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The form of government in Japan prior to WWII, with the emperor as head of state. uncountable
"He called for a restoration ( chūkǒ ) of the true principles ( seiron ) of emperorism and of the bakufu, and reminded the Japanese that it had been long - standing practice of the shogunate to protect the correct theory of imperial authority."
- 2 Extreme Japanese nationalism before and during WWII, especially support for the policies of the emperor. uncountable
"It is difficult to argue with much contained in these analyses of the pathology of Japanese emperorism. Certainly emperorism was the value system that provided the foundations of Japanese aggression and bureaucratic fascism."
- 3 A belief in or support for the absolute authority of an emperor or similar supreme ruler. uncountable
"The charge that Keppler made most often in his anti-third-term campaign was that of “emperorism,” a fear many Americans shared."
- 4 Synonym of authoritarianism. uncountable
"Wilson and many Americans with him have undergone an ugly development from an honest democratic republicanism to a bedizened emperorism."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"He called for a restoration ( chūkǒ ) of the true principles ( seiron ) of emperorism and of the bakufu, and reminded the Japanese that it had been long - standing practice of the shogunate to protect the correct theory of imperial authority."
Etymology
From emperor + -ism, possibly a calque of Japanese 天皇制 (tennō-sei, “emperor system”) or 天皇主義 (tennō shugi, “emperor doctrine”).
More for "emperorism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.