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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That is quite an achievement for a film which is certainly not a popcorn movie, recording the real-life story of Eunice Pavia and her reinvention of herself and rebuilding of her family after her husband, Rubens Pavia, an opponent of Brazil’s military dictatorship, disappeared after arrest in 1971.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
3 Mar. 2025
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The movie recounts the experiences of Eunice Paiva and her family after her husband Rubens Paiva was taken into custody during the country’s military dictatorship.—
Eliana Dockterman,
TIME,
3 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Here’s a Brazilian film about fighting fascism at home with big and small acts of resistance.—
Cristina Escobar,
refinery29.com,
3 Mar. 2025
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From fraught talk of cultural fascism to economic critiques of the entertainment industry, honorees and their peers predicted an uncertain but fiery future for filmmakers, cast, and crew.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
24 Feb. 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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Trump could also falter because a world of ambitious, colluding autocracies is difficult even for the most skillful superpower to handle.—
HAL BRANDS,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
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Following it all is independent journalist and Nobel Prize-winner Maria Ressa, with an eye toward the specter of increasing autocracy.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Time’s Echo by Jeremy Eichler Using four studies from the Second World War era—Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Benjamin Britten—this book contends with how music memorializes catastrophes and deals with totalitarianism, which may feel a bit on the nose right now.—
The New Yorker,
The New Yorker,
5 Mar. 2025
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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
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 15 Mar. 2025.
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