totalitarianism

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noun to·tal·i·tar·i·an·ism \(ˌ)tō-ˌta-lə-ˈter-ē-ə-ˌni-zəm\

Definition of totalitarianism

1 : centralized control by an autocratic authority
2 : the political concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute state authority

Examples of totalitarianism in a Sentence

in times of crisis, when a nation's people are frightened, there are often calls for totalitarianism

Recent Examples of totalitarianism from the Web

America is not burdened with the history of tyranny and totalitarianism that haunts Russia.

— susan b. glasser, New York Times, "Our Putin", 18 Feb. 2017
in which Nabokov treats us to, then liberates us from, the bad farce of totalitarianism.

— New York Times, "Ali Smith: By the Book", 7 Feb. 2017
Resistance evokes the struggle against totalitarianism, conveying personal defiance and official powerlessness at the same time.

— beverly gage, New York Times, "A ‘Resistance’ Stands Against Trump. But What Will It Stand For?", 31 Jan. 2017
Over the years, Castro became known for his totalitarianism.

— lauren duca, Teen Vogue, "Fidel Castro Has Died at Age 90", 26 Nov. 2016
Some Ukrainian nationalists hitched their cause to Hitler’s, while Ukrainian Communists were the frontline enforcers of Soviet totalitarianism postwar.

— sohrab ahmari, WSJ, "On the Frontlines of Putin’s War", 13 Oct. 2016
The word the twentieth century coined for that was totalitarianism.

— louis menand, The New Yorker, "Karl Marx, Yesterday and Today", 10 Oct. 2016
During the Cold War, critics such as Berlin and Jacob Talmon presented Rousseau as a prophet of totalitarianism.

— pankaj mishra, The New Yorker, "How Rousseau Predicted Trump", 1 Aug. 2016
At times — as when a soldier under the new regime rapes a bride in her wedding dress — the movie flirts with a false equivalence, suggesting that postrevolutionary life is just as cruel as totalitarianism.

— ben kenigsberg, New York Times, "The President", 2 June 2016

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