Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Despotic.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective belonging to or having the characteristics of a despot

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Dominion acquired by conquest, or victory in war, is that which some writers call despotical from Despotes, which signifieth a lord or master, and is the dominion of the master over his servant.

    Leviathan 2007

  • Dominion acquired by conquest, or victory is that which some writers call despotical, from Δεσπότης which signifieth

    DESPOTISM MELVIN RICHTER 1968

  • Dominion acquired by conquest, or victory is that which some writers call despotical, from Δεσπότης which signifieth

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas 1925

  • Dominion acquired by conquest, or victory in war, is that which some writers call despotical from, which signifieth a lord or master, and is the dominion of the master over his servant.

    Leviathan, or, The matter, forme, & power of a common-wealth ecclesiasticall and civill 1651

  • Who shall avenge my wrongs on you,560 tyrant despotical

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • In sum, the rights and consequences of both paternal and despotical dominion are the very same with those of a sovereign by institution; and for the same reasons: which reasons are set down in the precedent chapter.

    Leviathan 2007

  • Egypt another paradise, now barbarous and desert, and almost waste, by the despotical government of an imperious Turk, intolerabili servitutis jugo premitur ([483] one saith) not only fire and water, goods or lands, sed ipse spiritus ab insolentissimi victoris pendet nutu, such is their slavery, their lives and souls depend upon his insolent will and command.

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • No doubt, if we could create a despotical governing machine, a steam autocrat, — passionless, untiring, and supreme, — we should advance further, and live more at ease than under any other form of government.

    The Paris Sketch Book 2006

  • At all events we may firstly observe in living creatures both a despotical and a constitutional rule; for the soul rules the body with a despotical rule, whereas the intellect rules the appetites with a constitutional and royal rule.

    Politics Aristotle 2002

  • That this power in the church is not despotical, lordly, and absolute.

    The Sermons of John Owen 1616-1683 1968

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