---
title: despotic — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «despotic» in the school dictionary: Despotic describes a ruler who has total power and uses it cruelly, without asking anyone else. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# despotic

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**Who acts:** Despotic, ruler, despotic king, despotic ruler, villagers · **What happens:** describe, have, use, ask, tax, punish · **To what, where:** ruler, total power, power, anyone, everyone, despotic lord

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«despotic» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [despotic in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/despotic.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Despotic describes a ruler who has total power and uses it cruelly, without asking anyone else.

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:despotic:m1:1
# text = Despotic describes a ruler who has total power and uses it cruelly, without asking anyone else.
1	Despotic	Despotic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	describes	describe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ruler	ruler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	uses	use	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	cruelly	cruelly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
16	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	15	obj	_	_
17	else	else	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | present | Despotic | a ruler |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent ruler=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | present | a ruler | total power |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 3 | **use** | present | a ruler *not said here* | power |  |  |  | cruelly *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | a ruler *not said here* |  | anyone |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent anyone=Recipient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The despotic king taxed everyone and punished anyone who complained.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:despotic:x1:1
# text = The despotic king taxed everyone and punished anyone who complained.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	despotic	despotic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	taxed	tax	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	punished	punish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	obj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	complained	complain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tax** | past | the despotic king |  | everyone |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent everyone=Recipient |
| 2 | **punish** | past | the despotic king *not said here* | anyone |  |  |  |  | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anyone=Patient |
| 3 | **complain** *speech: other* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A despotic ruler does not listen to his people.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:despotic:x2:1
# text = A despotic ruler does not listen to his people.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	despotic	despotic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	ruler	ruler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **listen** | present · do-support | a despotic ruler |  |  |  |  | to his people | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to people=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The villagers hated their despotic lord.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:despotic:x3:1
# text = The villagers hated their despotic lord.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	villagers	villager	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hated	hate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	despotic	despotic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | past | the villagers | villagers's despotic lord |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer lord=Stimulus |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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