as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
the Magna Carta is historically important because it signified the British rejection of autocracy and constituted the first formal restraining of the power of the monarch
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of autocracy
There is certainly a connection between autocracy and corruption.
—
Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 16 May 2025
Source: Mongabay Fiji makes significant strides toward democratizing Although analysts note that autocracies outnumbered democracies worldwide in 2024, Fiji has adopted a number of reforms to strengthen civil participation and fair implementation of laws.
—Troy Aidan Sambajon, Christian Science Monitor, 28 Apr. 2025
And voilà—America's chief constitutional bulwark against autocracy dissolves.
—John W. Dean, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2025
The prior President’s approach to China was highly ideological and competitive, stressing democracy versus autocracy, and seeking to align countries against China—while offering Beijing few incentives for cooperation.
—J. Tedford Tyler, Time, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 16 May 2025
Source: Mongabay Fiji makes significant strides toward democratizing Although analysts note that autocracies outnumbered democracies worldwide in 2024, Fiji has adopted a number of reforms to strengthen civil participation and fair implementation of laws.
—Troy Aidan Sambajon, Christian Science Monitor, 28 Apr. 2025
And voilà—America's chief constitutional bulwark against autocracy dissolves.
—John W. Dean, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2025
The prior President’s approach to China was highly ideological and competitive, stressing democracy versus autocracy, and seeking to align countries against China—while offering Beijing few incentives for cooperation.
—J. Tedford Tyler, Time, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autocracy
Noun
-
The guitar, by transitive property, broke down racial and class barriers, fought tyranny, freed up minds and bodies.—
Nick Paumgarten,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
-
The Founding Fathers, having witnessed the abuses of centralized power under British rule, embedded this model into the Constitution to ensure a system of checks and balances, where each branch could limit the powers of the others, safeguarding against tyranny and upholding the rule of law.—
Andy J. Semotiuk,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2025
Noun
-
His parents, Marcelo Netto and Miriam Leitão, are both journalists who resisted the dictatorship and were persecuted.—
Marcelo Cajueiro,
Variety,
27 May 2025
-
Men and women respond to the Nazi dictatorship by becoming, at best, evasive and feebly self-justifying, at worst, morally broken.—
David Denby,
New Yorker,
23 May 2025
Noun
-
Daniel Kehlmann’s latest novel, The Director, documents the little compromises that led G. W. Pabst, like millions of other people, to accept fascism.—
Susan Neiman,
The New York Review of Books,
22 May 2025
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Jews tend to teach their children to be wary of fascism from a very young age, with its nationalist bombast, its cult of masculinity, its contempt for pluralism and its relentless, bludgeoning lies.—
Michelle Goldberg,
Mercury News,
21 May 2025
Noun
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Now American culture bows down to Anna Wintour’s despotism.—
Armond White,
National Review,
9 May 2025
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The necessity of power sharing also meant that Congress could provide a check against despotism even if the same party held the Presidency and a majority in both houses.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
31 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Autocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autocracy. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
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