to·tal·i·tar·i·an
(ˌ)tō-ˌta-lə-ˈter-ē-ən 
1
a
: of or relating to centralized control by an autocratic leader or hierarchy : authoritarian, dictatorial
especially
: despotic
b
: of or relating to a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by coercive measures (such as censorship and terrorism)
2
a
: advocating or characteristic of totalitarianism
b
: completely regulated by the state especially as an aid to national mobilization in an emergency
c
: exercising autocratic powers
: an advocate or practitioner of totalitarianism
Examples of totalitarian in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Zac Ntim, Deadline, 24 June 2025
What is a totalitarian leader other than an individualist taking that creed to its cruel conclusions, erasing the uniqueness of every other person into mere characters in a drama?
—Ed Simon
june 23, Literary Hub, 23 June 2025
Rebecca Solnit
april 29, Literary Hub, 29 Apr. 2021
Ridicule only appeals to cool kids on coasts and the college towns and totalitarians.
—Letters To The Editor, Orange County Register, 17 Oct. 2020
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
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Adjective
In the age of the great Stalinist purges, this is the plunge of a man into the corridors of a totalitarian regime that does not bear said name.
—Zac Ntim, Deadline, 24 June 2025
What is a totalitarian leader other than an individualist taking that creed to its cruel conclusions, erasing the uniqueness of every other person into mere characters in a drama?
—Ed Simon
june 23, Literary Hub, 23 June 2025
Noun
His personal goal was surely the vanity of wanting to have never been wrong and the superpower of always being right—George Orwell speaks of the theological nature of totalitarians, who must constantly alter the past to claim to be always right in the present.
—Rebecca Solnit
april 29, Literary Hub, 29 Apr. 2021
Ridicule only appeals to cool kids on coasts and the college towns and totalitarians.
—Letters To The Editor, Orange County Register, 17 Oct. 2020
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
Cite this Entry
“Totalitarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/totalitarian. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
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