from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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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