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Autos in Greek means "same" or "self", so in an autocratic government all the power is held by the leader him- or herself. Autocratic governments are often called dictatorships, or sometimes autocracies. In everyday life, a teacher, a parent, or a football coach can all behave like autocrats as well.
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Examples of autocratic in a Sentence
Denise Dresser, Foreign Affairs, 13 June 2024
In Hungary, a brand-new, insurgent center-right party unexpectedly took votes away from Viktor Orbán’s autocratic ruling party.
—Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 11 June 2024
And while Russian involvement in the 2016 election swayed few votes, there’s good reason to believe India’s campaign is working as intended — muting stateside criticism of India’s autocratic turn under Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 22 May 2024
Hopefully, American citizens will always choose democracy, with its occasional sense of chaos, rather than its autocratic alternative.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 21 May 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Autocratic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autocratic. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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autocratic
adjective
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