absolutism

1 dominance through threat of punishment and violence [syn: tyranny, despotism]

2 a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.) [syn: dictatorship, authoritarianism, Caesarism, despotism, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate, Stalinism, totalitarianism, tyranny]

3 the principle of complete and unrestricted power in government [syn: totalitarianism, totalism]

4 the doctrine of an absolute being

English

Etymology

Derivative of absolute

Pronunciation

IPA: (ˈæbsəluːtɪzəm)

Noun

1. The state of being absolute; the system or doctrine of the absolute; the principles or practice of absolute or arbitrary government; despotism.

   Quotations

   • The element of absolutism and prelacy was controlling. - Palfrey

2. Doctrine of absolute decrees. - Ash

Translations

• Croatian: apsolutizam
• French: absolutisme (1)
• Russian: абсолютизм

Swedish

Noun

absolutism (uncountable)

1. the principle of abstaining from alcohol

See also

• nykterhet
• nykterism
• absolutist

The term Absolutism may refer to:

• Absolute idealism, an ontologically monistic philosophy attributed to G.W.F. Hegel. It is Hegel's account of how being is ultimately comprehensible as an all-inclusive whole.
• Absolute monarchy, a form of government where the monarch has the power to rule their land freely, with no laws or legally-organized direct opposition in force
• Absolute space, a theory holding that space exists absolutely, in contrast to relationalism, which holds that space exists only as relations between objects
• Absolute truth, the contention that in a particular domain of thought, all statements in that domain are either absolutely true or absolutely false
• Absolutism (European history), a historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by any other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites
• Autocracy (also known as 'political absolutism'), a political theory which argues that one person should hold all power
• Enlightened absolutism, a term used to describe the actions of absolute rulers who were influenced by the Enlightenment (eighteenth and early nineteenth century Europe)
• Moral absolutism, the position that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, and that certain actions are good or evil, regardless of the context of the act

Caesarism, Stalinism, absolute monarchy, absolute power, autarchy, authoritarianism, authority, autocracy, benevolent despotism, bond service, bondage, captivity, competence, competency, constituted authority, control, czarism, debt slavery, delegated authority, deprivation of freedom, despotism, dictatorship, disenfranchisement, disfranchisement, divine right, domination, enslavement, enthrallment, faculty, feudalism, feudality, helotism, helotry, indentureship, indirect authority, inherent authority, jus divinum, kaiserism, lawful authority, legal authority, legitimacy, monarchy, one-man rule, one-party rule, paternalism, peonage, power, prerogative, regality, restraint, right, rightful authority, royal prerogative, serfdom, serfhood, servility, servitude, slavery, subjection, subjugation, the say, the say-so, thrall, thralldom, totalitarianism, tyranny, vassalage, vested authority, vicarious authority, villenage