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
Wisner was responsible for the military dictatorships and genocide in Guatemala that predictably emerged after his orchestration of the CIA’s overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz.
—
Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 15 May 2025
The lodgings were often concrete bunker-like structures left over from Franco’s dictatorship or big package resorts built before the government clamped down on development in the 1980s.
—Julia Chaplin, Travel + Leisure, 13 May 2025
Argentina's democracy was rebuilt from the ashes of the last civic-military dictatorship.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 May 2025
It was followed by seven more years of dictatorship and the brutal repression of dissent now known as the Dirty War.
—Lily Meyer, The Dial, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dictatorship
Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 15 May 2025
The lodgings were often concrete bunker-like structures left over from Franco’s dictatorship or big package resorts built before the government clamped down on development in the 1980s.
—Julia Chaplin, Travel + Leisure, 13 May 2025
Argentina's democracy was rebuilt from the ashes of the last civic-military dictatorship.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 May 2025
It was followed by seven more years of dictatorship and the brutal repression of dissent now known as the Dirty War.
—Lily Meyer, The Dial, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dictatorship
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dictatorship
Noun
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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
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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
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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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In the middle of the twentieth century, understandably proud of America’s indispensable role in defeating totalitarian autocracy, historians tended to emphasize our nation’s undeniable achievements.—
James T. Kloppenberg,
Time,
28 May 2025
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But if current trends are allowed to continue, Europe may soon encounter a completely militarized autocracy on its borders that is similar to North Korea’s in structure, and far more dangerous.—
ANDREI YAKOVLEV,
Foreign Affairs,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dictatorship.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dictatorship. Accessed 1 Jun. 2025.
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