| 释义 |
despotism|ˈdɛspətɪz(ə)m|
[a. F. despotisme (Dict. Acad. 1740): see despot and -ism.]
1. The rule of a despot; despotic government; the exercise of absolute authority.
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Despotism, despotic government. 1756Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 36 The simplest form of government is despotism, where all the inferior orbs of power are moved merely by the will of the Supreme. 1817Bentham Swear not at all Wks. 1843 V. 222 Next to the evils of anarchy, are the evils of despotism. 1857Toulm. Smith Parish 364 The worst form of despotism is the silent enslaving of a nation by Functionarism and Bureaucracy. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. iv. 192 These very circumstances, which guarded the people against political despotism exposed them all the more to ecclesiastical despotism. 1869Rawlinson Anc. Mon., Hist. 22 Despotism is the simplest, coarsest, and rudest of all the forms of civil government. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 29 In France the first effective enemy of the principles of despotism was Voltaire.
2. A political system under the control of a despot; a despotic state; an arbitrary government.
1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. v. 205 It is..dangerous suddenly to change a despotism for a free constitution. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. v. 297 A free country has greater difficulty than a despotism in the mere setting about of a war. 1879Froude Cæsar xx. 347 They saw that a civil war could end only in a despotism. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. 190 Your empire is a despotism exercised over unwilling subjects.
3. fig. Absolute power or control; rigid restraint.
1797Godwin Enquirer i. vii. 60 All education is despotism. 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. xi. (1860) 243 With what..despotism do empty names and ideal phantoms exercise their dominion over the human mind! 1836Emerson Nat., Idealism Wks. (Bohn) II. 160 The first effort of thought tends to relax this despotism of the senses. 1859Mill Liberty ii. 63 An old mental despotism had been thrown off. |