Autocracies

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Autocracy \Au*toc"ra*cy\, n.; pl. {Autocracies}. [Gr. ?: cf. F.
     autocratie. See {Autocrat}.]
     1. Independent or self-derived power; absolute or controlling
        authority; supremacy.
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              The divine will moves, not by the external impulse
              or inclination of objects, but determines itself by
              an absolute autocracy.                --South.
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     2. Supreme, uncontrolled, unlimited authority, or right of
        governing in a single person, as of an autocrat.
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     3. Political independence or absolute sovereignty (of a
        state); autonomy. --Barlow.
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     4. (Med.) The action of the vital principle, or of the
        instinctive powers, toward the preservation of the
        individual; also, the vital principle. [In this sense,
        written also {autocrasy}.] --Dunglison.
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