despot
pronunciation
How to pronounce despot in British English:
UK [ˈdespɒt]
How to pronounce despot in American English:
US [ˈdespɑt]
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- Noun:
- a cruel and oppressive dictator
Word Origin
- despot
- despot: [16] The ultimate source of despot is Greek despótēs ‘lord’. It is related to Sanskrit dampati ‘master of the house’, and both probably go back to an Indo-European compound formed from *domo- ‘house’ (source of Latin domus ‘house’, and hence of English domestic) and another element related to Latin potis ‘able’ and English power. (Latin dominus ‘lord’, a derivative of domus ‘house’ and originally meaning ‘master of the house’, is a semantically parallel formation.) Greek despótēs was used for ‘lord, master’ or ‘ruler’ in various contexts, with no particular pejorative connotation (in modern Greek it means ‘bishop’).But most rulers in ancient times enjoyed absolute power, and so eventually the word (which entered English via medieval Latin despota and early modern French despot) came to mean ‘tyrannical ruler’; this sense became firmly established at the time of the French Revolution.=> domestic, dominion
- despot (n.)
- 1560s, "absolute ruler," from Old French despot (14c.), from Medieval Latin despota, from Greek despotes "master of a household, lord, absolute ruler," from PIE *dems-pota- "house-master;" for first element see domestic (adj.); second element cognate with Latin potis, potens (see potent). Faintly pejorative in Greek, progressively more so as used in various languages for Roman emperors, Christian rulers of Ottoman provinces, and Louis XVI during the French Revolution. The female equivalent was despoina "lady, queen, mistress," source of the proper name Despina.
Example
- 1. To some historians mao was a dangerously erratic despot .
- 2. Yusof , it later emerged , had had her maths abilities fostered by a father who ran his household like a despot .
- 3. The despot ran his country as a gulag .
- 4. Manuel noriega , a former panamanian despot , is likely to be less lucky .
- 5. In politics also a reformer may have just as strong a love of power as a despot .