専制

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 専制 is a noun read せんせい, meaning autocracy or despotism in which power is concentrated and exercised without effective restraint.
• Basic usage: Use the compound 専制政治 when naming the political system and 王の専制 when referring to a king's despotic rule.
  • 歴史の授業で専制政治の特徴を学んだ。 describes learning the features of autocratic government in history class; 物語の民衆は王の専制に立ち向かった。 says that the people in a story resisted the king's tyranny.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 専制政治
  • Combining the word with 政治 forms a noun for a political system dominated by unrestricted concentrated power.
• 専制に立ち向かった
  • に marks despotic rule as what the people opposed; the expression is not limited to a personal encounter with the king.
• 専制 and 独裁
  • Both are related terms for concentrated rule, while 専制 can particularly emphasize power being exercised arbitrarily and without restraint.