Despot, Despotism

DESPOT - Master and supreme lord; it is synonymous with monarch, but as it is usually employed, it signifies a tyrant. In some states, despot is the title given to the sovereign, as king is given in others.

DESPOTISM - That abuse of government, where the sovereign power is not divided, but united in the hands of a single man, whatever may be his official title. It is not, properly, a form of government.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.