Definition of authoritarian
- had authoritarian parents
- an authoritarian regime
grew up with an authoritarian older sister who thought she was queen of the world
an authoritarian coach who runs football practice like it's boot camp
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'authoritarian.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
austere, flinty, hard, harsh, heavy-handed, ramrod, rigid, rigorous, severe, stern, strict, tough;
easy, easygoing, laid-back, undemanding;
charitable, kind, merciful, mild, patient, soft, softhearted;
accepting, compromising, yielding;
acquiescent, agreeable, amenable, complaisant, compliant, flexible, pliable, pliant;
adamant, callous, hardened, hard-hearted, hard-line, immovable, implacable, inflexible, merciless, pitiless, relentless, rock-ribbed, stiff, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unsparing, unyielding;
: expecting or requiring people to obey rules or laws : not allowing personal freedom
See words that rhyme with authoritarian Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for authoritarian Spanish Central: Translation of authoritarian Nglish: Translation of authoritarian for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of authoritarian for Arabic speakers
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