as in tyrant
a person who uses power or authority in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way
the dictator had a fierce stranglehold on the country, keeping its people in poverty and ignorance
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Recent Examples of dictator
This is what dictators and authoritarians do.
—
Greg Evans, Deadline, 22 Sep. 2025
The Cult of Reason lasted little more than a year before Robespierre, now ensconced as France’s dictator, replaced it with his own Cult of the Supreme Being.
—Paul Kingsnorth, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
Nine months after the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a rebel offensive, Syria faces a litany of new challenges.
—Caroline Rose, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2025
The most notorious, in 1978, saw the late queen hide behind a bush in the gardens of Buckingham Palace to avoid Nicolae Ceaușescu, having already removed anything that the Romanian dictator could steal from his room following a warning from Giscard d'Estaing, the then French president.
—Ian King, CNBC, 17 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dictator
Greg Evans, Deadline, 22 Sep. 2025
The Cult of Reason lasted little more than a year before Robespierre, now ensconced as France’s dictator, replaced it with his own Cult of the Supreme Being.
—Paul Kingsnorth, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
Nine months after the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a rebel offensive, Syria faces a litany of new challenges.
—Caroline Rose, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2025
The most notorious, in 1978, saw the late queen hide behind a bush in the gardens of Buckingham Palace to avoid Nicolae Ceaușescu, having already removed anything that the Romanian dictator could steal from his room following a warning from Giscard d'Estaing, the then French president.
—Ian King, CNBC, 17 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dictator
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dictator
tyrant
Noun
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The light historical touch is no doubt necessary for a series trying to sell its viewers on a love story between a modern protagonist and a character originally based on a real-life historical tyrant.—
Kayti Burt,
Time,
29 Sep. 2025
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Reynolds is a tetchy tyrant, who, enabled by his sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), has embraced a need to have things just so as a means of warding off vulnerability.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dictator.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dictator. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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