dictator

noun dic·ta·tor \ ˈdik-ˌtā-tər , dik-ˈ \

Updated on: 12 Apr 2018

1 a : a person granted absolute emergency power; especially, history : one appointed by the senate (see senate 1a) of ancient Rome

b : one holding complete autocratic control : a person with unlimited governmental power

c : one ruling in an absolute (see absolute 2) and often oppressive way

fascist dictators

2 : one who says or reads something for a person to transcribe or for a machine to record : one that dictates (see ¹dictate 1)

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Examples of dictator in a Sentence

The country was ruled by a military dictator.
the dictator had a fierce stranglehold on the country, keeping its people in poverty and ignorance

Recent Examples of dictator from the Web

Park is the daughter of deeply divisive dictator Park Chung-hee, who is revered by supporters as a hero who spearheaded South Korea's rapid economic rise in the 1960-70s.

— hyung-jin kim and kim tong-hyung, chicagotribune.com, "Disgraced South Korean ex-president gets 24-years in prison for massive corruption scandal," 6 Apr. 2018
Park is the daughter of a deeply divisive dictator, Park Chung-hee, who is revered by supporters as a hero who spearheaded South Korea’s rapid economic rise in the 1960-70s.

— Time, "Ousted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye Has Been Sentenced to 24 Years in Prison," 6 Apr. 2018
Since 1986 – when dictator Ferdinand Marcos fled the country – nearly every Philippine president has enjoyed high support in the early years of administration.

— jessica mendoza, The Christian Science Monitor, "The Duterte dissonance: One leader, two Philippines?," 6 Apr. 2018
Philippine officials on Monday began recounting ballots cast in a 2016 vice-presidential election, a move that the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos hopes could return his family to power.

— jake maxwell watts, WSJ, "Recount Begins in Election That Could Bring Marcos Family Back to Power," 2 Apr. 2018
The film is about exactly what the title suggests — the death of Josef Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin), the brutal dictator of the Soviet Union, and the chaotic political maneuvering that followed, all colored by the paranoia his deadly reign created.

— bill goodykoontz, azcentral, "'The Death of Stalin' is brilliant madness," 22 Mar. 2018
Libya has become a lawless state in which fragmented armed groups kill and torture with impunity, the U.N. human rights office (OHCHR) has said, seven years after a revolution toppled dictator Muammar el-Qaddaﬁ.

— david brennan, Newsweek, "Humans For Sale: Libyan Slave Trade Continues While Militants Kill and Torture With Impunity, U.N. Says," 21 Mar. 2018
This was Arredondo’s way of dealing with insurgency, and the current dictator of Mexico appears to have learned the lesson well.

— robert kolarik, San Antonio Express-News, "Gonzales Rangers enter the Alamo," 28 Feb. 2018
Edgar Snow’s bestselling Red Star over China — perhaps the single most influential work on the rise of Communism in China at the time — featured a full glorification of murderous dictator Mao Zedong.

— ben shapiro, National Review, "Why the Media Is Fawning over North Korea," 13 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dictator.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.