as in dictatorship
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a popular uprising replaced that nation's tyranny with freedom and democracy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tyranny
The world must not allow tyranny and dictatorship to go unpunished or endorsed in the new year.
—
Kevin Shalvey, ABC News, 1 Jan. 2025
He may be replaced by another tyranny, which should then also be resisted; but at least there will be hope.
—Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 31 Dec. 2024
The Covid era aggravated our social media addiction and introduced us to the tyranny of video calls, steering many women toward cosmetic surgery.
—The Styles Desk, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2024
After half a century of tyranny, the Assad family’s rule over Syria has come to an end.
—Fawaz A. Gerges, Foreign Affairs, 27 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for tyranny 
Kevin Shalvey, ABC News, 1 Jan. 2025
He may be replaced by another tyranny, which should then also be resisted; but at least there will be hope.
—Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 31 Dec. 2024
The Covid era aggravated our social media addiction and introduced us to the tyranny of video calls, steering many women toward cosmetic surgery.
—The Styles Desk, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2024
After half a century of tyranny, the Assad family’s rule over Syria has come to an end.
—Fawaz A. Gerges, Foreign Affairs, 27 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
The movement, which has gained traction on social media, brands itself as a fight against fascism.—
Hannah Parry,
Newsweek,
5 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
Noun
-
In our skies as in our social lives, incremental change, like ring rain, seems to work slowly, while acts of frightening absolutism seem to happen overnight.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
22 Dec. 2024
-
In other words, the absolutism or the abolitionist approach to cutting out meat from our diet doesn’t work for a lot of people.—
Shalom Daniel,
Forbes,
19 Dec. 2024
Articles Related to tyranny
Thesaurus Entries Near tyranny
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share