English → Latin
“despotic” in Latin
imperiōsusmighty, powerful, puissant, commanding; imperious, domineering, overbearing, tyrannical, dictatorialsuperbusproud, rude, supercilious, arrogant, haughty, uncivil, insolent, discourteous; proud, superior, superb, excellent, distiimpotēnsPowerless, weak, feeble, impotent, helpless, puny.; Unable to control, having no power over; incapable of.; Unbridled, uimportūnusinconvenient, unsuitable; annoying; rudecrūdēlisunfeeling, rude; ruthless, cruel, mercilesssuperbiapride, haughtiness, arrogance, snobbishness, insolence, lawlessness, wantonness; conceit, vanity; rudeness, discourtesy
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
despotic
imperiosus, against anybody, alicui (imperious; hence, tyrannical): superbus (arrogant; hence, as epithet, “the proud” in Tarquinius Superbus). (The words are found in this connection and order.) imperiosus et superbus: impotens, against anybody, alicui (who cannot restrain his passions, etc.; hence, who cannot restrain himself in a past of command; also of things that imply and proceed from such a temper; imperious, despotic): importunus (harsh, unbending, etc., in his conduct towards others); crudelis or saevus in aliquem (e.g., tyrannus saevissimus et violentissimus in suos, Liv., 34, 32): a despotic temper, superbia: a despotic government, dominatio impotens or superba, or crudelis superbaque (☞ Cic., Phil., 3, 14, 34): tyrannis, or pure Latin, dominatio (sovereignty introduced against the will of a people; and, therefore, a usurped government, a tyranny, or despotism).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for despotic?
- The usual Latin words for “despotic” are imperiōsus, superbus, impotēns; also importūnus, crūdēlis, superbia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.