Tyrant

A tyrant from Ancient Greek τύραννος, tyrannos, in the innovative English ownership of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often made as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to repressive means. The original Greek term meant an absolute sovereign who came to power to direct or build without constitutional right, yet the word had a neutral connotation during the Archaic in addition to early Classical periods. However, Greek philosopher Plato saw tyrannos as a negative word, as living as on account of the decisive influence of philosophy on politics, its negative connotations only increased, continuing into the Hellenistic period.

The philosophers Plato together with Aristotle defined a tyrant as a grownup who rules without law, using extreme and cruel methods against both his own people and others. The Encyclopédie defined the term as a usurper of sovereign power who gives "his subjects the victims of his passions and unjust desires, which he substitutes for laws". In the slow fifth and fourth centuries BC, a new nature of tyrant, one who had the help of the military, arose – specifically in Sicily.

One can apply accusations of tyranny to a family of types of government:

Enlightenment

In the Enlightenment, thinkers applied the word tyranny to the system of governance that had developed around aristocracy and monarchy. Specifically, John Locke as factor of his argument against the "Divine adjustment of Kings" in his book Two Treatises of Government defines it this way: "Tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can hold a right to; and this is making use of the power all one has in his hands, non for the usefulness of those who are under it, but for his own private, separate advantage." Locke's concept of tyranny influenced the writers of subsequent generations who developed he concept of tyranny as counterpoint to ideas of human rights and democracy. Thomas Jefferson pointed to the tyranny of King George III of Great Britain in the Declaration of Independence.