ˈdespəˌtizəm also -pəd.ˌiz- noun
( -s )
Etymology: French despotisme, from despote despot + -isme -ism
1.
a. : rule by a despot : tyranny
despotism is a perversion of sovereignty in which the interests of a governing class usurp the place belonging to the general interest — G.H.Sabine
an excess of law is despotism , from which free men revolt — S.B.Pettengill
b. : arbitrary or despotic exercise of power : any harsh or oppressive arbitrary domination
under the parental despotism of the Confucian code of ethics — Times Literary Supplement
warnings against educational despotism
that despotism is one of the major biological principles; that whenever two birds are together invariably one is despot — W.C.Allee
game fads sweep film circles, achieve a social despotism which lasts for weeks — Leo Rosten
2.
a. : a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power : absolutism , autocracy
the conception of government by naked, overwhelming power alone — power itself ungoverned by anything beyond the whims of its possessors … is of course the conception of tyranny or despotism — J.T.Dunlop
the old despotism of the czars
b. : a despotic state
that Communism is the surest way yet found to continue the old Asian despotisms in modern times — New Yorker
under the despotism of Cromwell — Hilaire Belloc