From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Autocracy \Au*toc"ra*cy\, noun; pl. {Autocracies}. [Gr. ?: cf. F. autocratie. See {Autocrat}.]
1. Independent or self-derived power; absolute or controlling authority; supremacy.
The divine will moves, not by the external impulse or inclination of objects, but determines itself by an absolute autocracy. --South.
2. Supreme, uncontrolled, unlimited authority, or right of governing in a single person, as of an autocrat.
3. Political independence or absolute sovereignty (of a state); autonomy. --Barlow.
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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a political system governed by a single individual [syn: {autarchy}] [ant: {democracy}]
2: a political theory favoring unlimited authority by a single individual
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