as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a revolution that only ended up replacing one dictatorship with another
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Recent Examples of dictatorship
That dictatorship was controlled by the military, but this one would have been more firmly entrenched by combining the military with the judiciary.
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Cressida Leyshon, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2024
The dizzying pace of events since the collapse of Syria’s dictatorship, including daily revelations of its brutality leavened by inspiring images of celebration, has risked obscuring the single most important aspect of President Bashar al-Assad’s demise.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Dec. 2024
Most of those killed were members of the indigenous Maya population, targeted by successive military dictatorships in a reign of genocidal terror.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 29 Dec. 2024
After 54 years, the Assad family’s brutal dictatorship in Syria has finally ended.
—Farrah Hassen, Orlando Sentinel, 27 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dictatorship 
Cressida Leyshon, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2024
The dizzying pace of events since the collapse of Syria’s dictatorship, including daily revelations of its brutality leavened by inspiring images of celebration, has risked obscuring the single most important aspect of President Bashar al-Assad’s demise.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Dec. 2024
Most of those killed were members of the indigenous Maya population, targeted by successive military dictatorships in a reign of genocidal terror.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 29 Dec. 2024
After 54 years, the Assad family’s brutal dictatorship in Syria has finally ended.
—Farrah Hassen, Orlando Sentinel, 27 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dictatorship
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dictatorship
Noun
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Annotated Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language declared Americans free from the tyranny of British institutions and their vocabularies.JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 8 Jan. 2025
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Transferring that depth to television, particularly to predominantly Black characters in a Caribbean country, especially one as fabled as Jamaica, to confront the tyranny of homophobia while also sustaining a conversation with the U.K. about its tainted legacy of colonialism, is bold and visionary.Ronda Racha Penrice, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The goal is to understand the seduction of fascism, why so many people fell for Mussolini’s message then, and why so many are falling for a similar message today.Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Dec. 2024
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In character dialogue, Wolfenstein like Bronowski, links certainty with fascism.G Kirilloff, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
Noun
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When the Arab Spring erupted across the Middle East in 2011, several autocracies were toppled and powerful Islamist groups rose to fill the vacuum in countries, including Tunisia and Egypt.Ismaeel Naar, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025
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The revisionist autocracies—led by China and Russia—will further aim to replace the liberal order established by the democratic Global West through more confrontational means.George Monastiriakos, Newsweek, 31 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Dictatorship.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dictatorship. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
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