as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
concerning absolutism Lord Acton famously observed that "absolute power corrupts absolutely"
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Recent Examples of absolutism
The History of a Dangerous Idea, Dabhoiwala sees First Amendment absolutism in the practices of Facebook and its ilk.
—
Kwame Anthony Appiah, The New York Review of Books, 25 Sep. 2025
The idea that executive absolutism can be stopped by a single district judge is a romantic but inaccurate one.
—George Liebmann, Baltimore Sun, 2 July 2025
Its champions gradually came to reinterpret the end of licensing as a natural consequence of the Revolution of 1688—part of the progression from tyrannical absolutism to parliamentary monarchy.
—Fara Dabhoiwala, Harpers Magazine, 4 June 2025
Weak absolutism thus required a balance of power between the king and the rent-seeking coalitions around him, with neither side dominating.
—Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for absolutism
Kwame Anthony Appiah, The New York Review of Books, 25 Sep. 2025
The idea that executive absolutism can be stopped by a single district judge is a romantic but inaccurate one.
—George Liebmann, Baltimore Sun, 2 July 2025
Its champions gradually came to reinterpret the end of licensing as a natural consequence of the Revolution of 1688—part of the progression from tyrannical absolutism to parliamentary monarchy.
—Fara Dabhoiwala, Harpers Magazine, 4 June 2025
Weak absolutism thus required a balance of power between the king and the rent-seeking coalitions around him, with neither side dominating.
—Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for absolutism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for absolutism
Noun
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History does not record many cases in which a power-mad leader careening toward tyranny suddenly regained his senses and became more moderate.—
David Brooks,
Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Washington was a slaveholder and had fought a revolution to overthrow British tyranny.—
John Garrison Marks,
Time,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
If all goes to hell and America devolves into a rank dictatorship, beware the bootlicker.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Edner migrated from Haiti in the late 1960s to escape the Duvalier dictatorship and build a better life for his four daughters and three sons.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
With football, the psychology of fascism works.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Sean Penn has the showiest performance, embodying all that is ridiculous about fascism, while his co-star Benicio del Toro makes an equally indelible impression embodying the quiet dignity of resistance.—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The hope is that the institutional reforms started by the interim administration of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus deliver the necessary checks and balances to avert another lurch toward despotism.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
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The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Those educated in the rise and fall of nations understand that the path is short from reactive government intervention to institutional oppressive autocracy.—
Torrey Snow,
Baltimore Sun,
21 Jan. 2026
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The United States had never had the kind of all-encompassing domestic-security apparatus common in autocracies, whose interior departments function as political police.—
Nick Miroff,
The Atlantic,
17 Jan. 2026
Noun
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His government was accused of authoritarianism, repression of the opposition and electoral manipulation.—
Jhasua Razo,
CNN Money,
24 Jan. 2026
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The danger here is not merely authoritarianism.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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His loathing for totalitarianism was among the very few hatreds Reagan ever held, his biographer Edmund Morris said.—
Peter Wehner,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2026
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After Al Qaeda and then Saddam Hussein abruptly emerged as incarnations of a new totalitarianism, Michael Ignatieff and Niall Ferguson, among many others, impatiently urged the United States to assume its imperial obligations and impose democracy, human rights, and free trade through war.—
Victor J. Blue,
Harpers Magazine,
23 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Absolutism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/absolutism. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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