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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tyranny
What happened in Anaheim a century ago shows how to combat tyranny and white supremacy — and also that the work is never really done.
—
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2025
The monster was the liberation from the tyranny of image.
—E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 18 Feb. 2025
This exuberant début poetry collection recasts the titular heroine as an Appalachian housewife reckoning with the tyrannies of beauty, domesticity, and small-town gossip during the late twentieth century.
—The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
Similarly, the story of Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, epitomizes the power of hope to defy tyranny and oppression.
—Contributed Content, Twin Cities, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2025
The monster was the liberation from the tyranny of image.
—E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 18 Feb. 2025
This exuberant début poetry collection recasts the titular heroine as an Appalachian housewife reckoning with the tyrannies of beauty, domesticity, and small-town gossip during the late twentieth century.
—The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
Similarly, the story of Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, epitomizes the power of hope to defy tyranny and oppression.
—Contributed Content, Twin Cities, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
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Russia is our enemy and will be for at least as long as Putin's dictatorship endures (and the Russian people continue to succumb to nostalgia for great power status and empire).—
Bradley Gitz,
arkansasonline.com,
17 Mar. 2025
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Founded in 1998, the station is owned by journalist Marcus Garcia, another renowned Haitian journalist and columnist who led the struggle for press freedoms against the Duvalier dictatorship in the 1980s.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
16 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Considering how many feel the show speaks to the rise in fascism currently taking place throughout the world, many believe the show has become adept at channeling real-world conflicts into a sci-fi allegory, but Gilroy doesn’t view his work as capturing the moment.—
Harrison Richlin,
IndieWire,
16 Mar. 2025
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Our parents defeated fascism and communism at the cost of great sacrifice.—
Claude Malhuret,
The Atlantic,
8 Mar. 2025
Noun
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening will address a joint session of Congress in a new political landscape – and just a year after former President Joe Biden warned that the nation faced a choice between democracy and despotism.—
Rebecca Morin,
USA TODAY,
3 Mar. 2025
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Cutting bureaucracy isn’t usually associated with despotism and power grabs.—
Garry Kasparov,
The Atlantic,
28 Feb. 2025
Noun
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That game-changing support almost certainly won’t come from the United States, which under President Donald Trump is rapidly aligning itself with Russia and other autocracies.—
David Axe,
Forbes,
18 Mar. 2025
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Some are pushing back against the Trump administration’s efforts to gut federal programs and fears about an autocracy in America.—
Nathaniel Meyersohn,
CNN,
28 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty notably helped spread American culture and news during the Cold War, undermining totalitarianism.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
18 Mar. 2025
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No matter what country, what system, there is always a risk of totalitarianism and of human rights being questioned.—
Georg Szalai,
The Hollywood Reporter,
13 Mar. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.
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