as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
concerning absolutism Lord Acton famously observed that "absolute power corrupts absolutely"
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Recent Examples of absolutism
The selection of Vance clarified the party’s absolutism.
—
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, 18 July 2024
Like some other Republican senators of his generation (Tom Cotton, of Arkansas; Josh Hawley, of Missouri; and Marco Rubio, of Florida, among them), Vance often stressed the need for Republicans to break from the free-market absolutism of the past.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
The result, in 1906, was the movement known as the Constitutional Revolution, which established a parliamentary system and brought about a short pause in Iran’s long history of absolutism.
—Amir A. Afkhami, Foreign Affairs, 2 Mar. 2020
This moral absolutism is antithetical to the university’s goal of advancing knowledge and critical inquiry.
—Jeffrey Koseff, Washington Post, 8 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for absolutism 
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, 18 July 2024
Like some other Republican senators of his generation (Tom Cotton, of Arkansas; Josh Hawley, of Missouri; and Marco Rubio, of Florida, among them), Vance often stressed the need for Republicans to break from the free-market absolutism of the past.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
The result, in 1906, was the movement known as the Constitutional Revolution, which established a parliamentary system and brought about a short pause in Iran’s long history of absolutism.
—Amir A. Afkhami, Foreign Affairs, 2 Mar. 2020
This moral absolutism is antithetical to the university’s goal of advancing knowledge and critical inquiry.
—Jeffrey Koseff, Washington Post, 8 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for absolutism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for absolutism
Noun
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However since then, the 43-year-old has had a disdain for the rapper, as she’s excitedly backed K. Dot’s tyranny against Drake.—
Amber Corrine,
VIBE.com,
10 Feb. 2025
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But the people in Gaza shouldn’t have to pay for a tyranny that rules over them with an iron fist.—
Hen Mazzig,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Feb. 2025
Noun
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When Johnson Sirleaf came to power, in 2006, Liberia had been wracked by more than a decade of civil war, a military dictatorship, and chronic poverty.—
John Cassidy,
The New Yorker,
8 Feb. 2025
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If allowed to proceed, Trump's purge of our federal law enforcement workforce will expose America to authoritarianism and dictatorship.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
3 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The movement, which has gained traction on social media, brands itself as a fight against fascism.—
Hannah Parry,
Newsweek,
5 Feb. 2025
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Did defeating the Nazis spur the Allies to a golden age of justice or rid the world of fascism?—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
5 Feb. 2025
Noun
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When a leader sets legislators on the sidelines, as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did during the COVID pandemic and Trump is doing now, republican governing gives way to autocracy.—
Nolan Finley,
The Mercury News,
28 Jan. 2025
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Trump’s transactional and pragmatic engagement with adversaries may do more to tame geopolitical rivalry than Biden’s view of a globe defined by a clash between democracy and autocracy.—
Charles A. Kupchan,
The Atlantic,
10 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Picking your form of government used to feel like an existential choice, but now despotism and oligarchy are hardly differentiated.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
12 Feb. 2025
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Western governments have burdened Georgia with a special status as a democracy-in-the-making in a region otherwise beset by despotism.—
Christian Caryl,
Foreign Affairs,
26 Dec. 2024
Noun
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And this particular slide into totalitarianism is a rather recent development (which gives one hope that it could be reversed).—
Christian Blauvelt,
IndieWire,
26 Jan. 2025
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With the help of grants from Jewish groups, social psychologists, sociologists, and other scholars investigated how antisemitism was connected to totalitarianism, religion and other forms of racial and ethnic stereotyping.—
Asaf Elia-Shalev,
Sun Sentinel,
9 Jan. 2025
Articles Related to absolutism
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Cite this Entry
“Absolutism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/absolutism. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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