autocrat

plural autocrats

1. An absolute ruler with infinite power.

   If Trump defies the Court, there is little to restrain him from acting as an autocrat, given the supplication of Republicans in Congress.

   2025 April 10, Adam Serwer, “The Confrontation Between Trump and the Supreme Court Has Arrived”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2025

   4 more examples

   Your salary is high; you are to have apartments in the house; and to be the autocrat of the library, where, I shrewdly suspect, your reign will be undisturbed.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Secretaryship”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 131

   Indeed, we take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. As Russia wages its premeditated, illegal war against Ukraine, killing thousands of innocents — even children — it is essential that America and our allies make clear that we never give in to autocrats.

   2022 August 2, Nancy Pelosi, “Nancy Pelosi: Why I’m leading a congressional delegation to Taiwan”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 02 Aug 2022, Opinion

   We’ve gotten used to headlines predicting the demise of democracy. While the threats we face are real, a glance around the globe shows that it’s autocrats who are in retreat right now.

   2022 December 1, John Avlon, “Opinion: The tide is turning against autocracy”, in CNN

   Trump added that the European autocrat is “a noncontroversial figure because he said, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’ and that’s the end of it, right? He’s the boss and … he’s a great leader, fantastic leader. In Europe and around the world, they respect him.”

   2024 March 8, Kristen Holmes and Andrew Millman, “Trump praises ‘fantastic’ Viktor Orbán while hosting Hungarian autocrat at Mar-a-Lago for meeting and concert”, in CNN

   Synonyms: autocrator, despot, dictator, monarch, tyrant, strongman

2. A title borne by some such monarchs, as in Byzantium and tsarist Russia.
3. Until the 20th century, a favorable description of a ruler who was connected with the concept of lack of conflicts of interest and an indication of grandeur and power.