as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a military-led coup would almost certainly result in ironfisted Caesarism for that unstable nation
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Recent Examples of Caesarism
On Inner Excellence, Caesarism, nationalism, imperialism, ‘Newscum,’ Starbucks, and more
A football player made a self-help book the hottest seller in the country.
—
Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 15 Jan. 2025
Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 15 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for Caesarism
Noun
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Establishing an entirely new and competing agency is merely the pursuit of a bureaucratic gravy train, and providing it with incentives to abuse power in order to boost its own coffers is an invitation to tyranny.—
Adam Summers,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 Apr. 2026
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Yet, by God’s grace, my Hispanic grandparents immigrated to the United States on July 4, 1976, and have cherished the freedoms from tyranny that have come with living here ever since.—
Stephen Mitchell,
Baltimore Sun,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Post-fascism doesn’t involve paramilitaries or do away with elections outright.—
Isaac Stanley-Becker,
The Atlantic,
10 Apr. 2026
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Eventually, that nativist turn would take America into a series of constitutional crises and to the edge of some American version of fascism.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The banner, more reminiscent of the way leaders are plastered on government buildings in a dictatorship like North Korea, is just the type of gesture the president expects.—
Colin Pascal,
Baltimore Sun,
5 Apr. 2026
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Fifty years ago, just after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, about 90% of residents were Catholic.—
Alexis Marshall,
NPR,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Since 2021, the state has been grappling with slowing economic output, weaning itself off a property market bubble, and trying to find a balance between promoting a free market and stock exchange within a one-party autocracy.—
Joseph Wilkins,Sean Conlon,
CNBC,
10 Apr. 2026
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Oil and autocracy in Venezuela The currency of exchange between America and Venezuela is oil.—
Boris Muñoz,
Time,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The hope is that the institutional reforms started by the interim administration of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus deliver the necessary checks and balances to avert another lurch toward despotism.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
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The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Jury President Wim Wenders praised the film for its portrait of life under totalitarianism saying the story would chime with and serve as a wakeup call for people all over the world.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
21 Feb. 2026
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His loathing for totalitarianism was among the very few hatreds Reagan ever held, his biographer Edmund Morris said.—
Peter Wehner,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Iran’s ruling system is often described in political terms, but critics and former insiders say its core is far more radical — a belief structure rooted in religious absolutism, messianic expectation and a worldview that leaves little room for compromise.—
Efrat Lachter,
FOXNews.com,
5 Apr. 2026
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Advice or even just notions—only check email after noon; never do 10 reps of crunches—solidify into absolutism or vanish.—
Ian Bogost,
The Atlantic,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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For 12 years, Maduro presided over the hollowing out of Venezuela as the steward of Chavismo, the hybrid regime forged by Hugo Chavez that wrapped authoritarianism in a democratic disguise.—
Boris Muñoz,
Time,
3 Apr. 2026
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There’s that attraction that comes through from her mom, the idea of the American pull to this authoritarianism.—
Fiction Non Fiction,
Literary Hub,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Caesarism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Caesarism. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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