as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
in times of crisis, when a nation's people are frightened, there are often calls for totalitarianism
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of totalitarianism
In times of uncertainty, particularly under the growing threat of totalitarianism, utopian fantasies provide a way to reflect on the situation and, potentially, outline a path toward a positive outcome.
—
JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025
Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four (also stylized as 1984) was published in 1949, and served as a stark warning about the dangers of totalitarianism.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Eclectic traditionalism, remade on an elephantine scale, is the style of totalitarianism.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2025
In the time between the 1933 and 1934 congress, Germany had moved even further into Nazi totalitarianism.
—Kamila Shamsie
june 20, Literary Hub, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for totalitarianism
JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025
Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four (also stylized as 1984) was published in 1949, and served as a stark warning about the dangers of totalitarianism.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Eclectic traditionalism, remade on an elephantine scale, is the style of totalitarianism.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2025
In the time between the 1933 and 1934 congress, Germany had moved even further into Nazi totalitarianism.
—Kamila Shamsie
june 20, Literary Hub, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for totalitarianism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalitarianism
Noun
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Here in Southern California, many of our neighbors are people who had to flee socialist tyranny.—
Sal Rodriguez,
Oc Register,
7 Nov. 2025
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For them, socialism has meant only a hankering for state tyranny and brazen assaults on property rights that, together, threaten the beliefs every patriotic citizen holds dear.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
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No World Cup has been less about the self-aggrandizement of the hosts and yet no World Cup has ever been so overtly political as the 1938 tournament, as exiles from Germany and Italy took the opportunity to make very public their opposition to fascism.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
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Swept up in the cinema-making of Italy’s auteurs, Nicholas finds himself on the sets of Fellini’s Casanova and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, a harrowing film about the death throes and reincarnations of fascism made just before the director’s murder.—
Jasmine Vojdani,
Vulture,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The forest for the trees Nestled between China, India and Thailand, Myanmar gained independence from Britain in 1948 but came under military dictatorship in 1962.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
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Both lived under dictatorships.—
Elizabeth B. Kim,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The war from within The chronology of the last few months shows a troubling acceleration of aspirational authoritarianism.—
Mercury News & East Bay Times editorial,
Mercury News,
7 Nov. 2025
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The messy, vibrant democracy of my youth is a distant memory, snuffed out by a quarter century of ever harsher authoritarianism.—
Quico Toro,
The Atlantic,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Totalitarianism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalitarianism. Accessed 22 Nov. 2025.
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