Hobbesian
adjective
Hobbes·ian
ˈhäb-zē-ən 
Examples of Hobbesian in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Looking beyond the existing structures does not mean simply accepting a Hobbesian state of nature.
—
Michael B. G. Froman, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2025
The comfortable post-Cold War interlude — when markets seemed paramount and history had supposedly ended — has given way to a more raw and Hobbesian environment.
—Ashley Lutz, Fortune, 9 Aug. 2025
And the Hobbesian view and its correlated emphasis on balance-of-power arrangements would find its first expression in a remarkable ancient Indian text on statecraft.
—Abhijnan Rej, Christian Science Monitor, 11 June 2025
The site demonstrated, before many people realized it, that the internet existed fundamentally in a Hobbesian state of nature, hosting a war of all against all.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2025
In their place, a more Hobbesian vision of society has emerged in which each person’s only obligation is to their own tribe.
—Matthew Scogin, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
Robin Waterfield’s Aesop’s Fables: A New Translation (Basic Books, $30) renders them in all their feral, fatalistic glory—bursts of Hobbesian asperity with dubious, sometimes conflicting, morals.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
But Dot and her family suggest that life isn’t always a Hobbesian struggle between the weak and the strong.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2024
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Michael B. G. Froman, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2025
The comfortable post-Cold War interlude — when markets seemed paramount and history had supposedly ended — has given way to a more raw and Hobbesian environment.
—Ashley Lutz, Fortune, 9 Aug. 2025
And the Hobbesian view and its correlated emphasis on balance-of-power arrangements would find its first expression in a remarkable ancient Indian text on statecraft.
—Abhijnan Rej, Christian Science Monitor, 11 June 2025
The site demonstrated, before many people realized it, that the internet existed fundamentally in a Hobbesian state of nature, hosting a war of all against all.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2025
In their place, a more Hobbesian vision of society has emerged in which each person’s only obligation is to their own tribe.
—Matthew Scogin, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
Robin Waterfield’s Aesop’s Fables: A New Translation (Basic Books, $30) renders them in all their feral, fatalistic glory—bursts of Hobbesian asperity with dubious, sometimes conflicting, morals.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
But Dot and her family suggest that life isn’t always a Hobbesian struggle between the weak and the strong.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Hobbesian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Hobbesian. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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