as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
concerning absolutism Lord Acton famously observed that "absolute power corrupts absolutely"
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Recent Examples of absolutism
The History of a Dangerous Idea, Dabhoiwala sees First Amendment absolutism in the practices of Facebook and its ilk.
—
Kwame Anthony Appiah, The New York Review of Books, 25 Sep. 2025
The idea that executive absolutism can be stopped by a single district judge is a romantic but inaccurate one.
—George Liebmann, Baltimore Sun, 2 July 2025
Its champions gradually came to reinterpret the end of licensing as a natural consequence of the Revolution of 1688—part of the progression from tyrannical absolutism to parliamentary monarchy.
—Fara Dabhoiwala, Harpers Magazine, 4 June 2025
Weak absolutism thus required a balance of power between the king and the rent-seeking coalitions around him, with neither side dominating.
—Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for absolutism
Kwame Anthony Appiah, The New York Review of Books, 25 Sep. 2025
The idea that executive absolutism can be stopped by a single district judge is a romantic but inaccurate one.
—George Liebmann, Baltimore Sun, 2 July 2025
Its champions gradually came to reinterpret the end of licensing as a natural consequence of the Revolution of 1688—part of the progression from tyrannical absolutism to parliamentary monarchy.
—Fara Dabhoiwala, Harpers Magazine, 4 June 2025
Weak absolutism thus required a balance of power between the king and the rent-seeking coalitions around him, with neither side dominating.
—Serhiy Kudelia, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for absolutism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for absolutism
Noun
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Continue reading … 'HISTORIC DAY' – Venezuelan opposition leader celebrates January 3 as 'day that justice defeated tyranny' after Maduro capture.—
,
FOXNews.com,
6 Jan. 2026
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In the past, a popular uprising or a coup could bring tyranny to an end.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
4 Jan. 2026
Noun
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His socialist dictatorship, hostile to human life, crushed Venezuelans’ freedoms for years.—
Agustina Vergara Cid,
Oc Register,
7 Jan. 2026
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One of his uncles had been part of the resistance to the right-wing military dictatorship that controlled Greece between 1967 and 1974.—
Naaman Zhou,
New Yorker,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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No World Cup has been less about the self-aggrandizement of the hosts and yet no World Cup has ever been so overtly political as the 1938 tournament, as exiles from Germany and Italy took the opportunity to make very public their opposition to fascism.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
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Swept up in the cinema-making of Italy’s auteurs, Nicholas finds himself on the sets of Fellini’s Casanova and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, a harrowing film about the death throes and reincarnations of fascism made just before the director’s murder.—
Jasmine Vojdani,
Vulture,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
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These achievements made the United States the political model of the liberal state, which displaced the monarchical dynasties of Europe in the nineteenth century, then rescued Western civilization from the totalitarian despotisms of Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union in the twentieth.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The time has come to stop this slippery slope to autocracy, restoring our democracy and reaffirming the core values upon which our country was built and persevered.—
Richard Cherwitz,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Jan. 2026
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There’s a very strong correlation with the rise of autocracy and human-rights abuses and bad governance and the increase in anti-American discourse.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The war from within The chronology of the last few months shows a troubling acceleration of aspirational authoritarianism.—
Mercury News & East Bay Times editorial,
Mercury News,
7 Nov. 2025
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The messy, vibrant democracy of my youth is a distant memory, snuffed out by a quarter century of ever harsher authoritarianism.—
Quico Toro,
The Atlantic,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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King wrote the 1982 action-adventure long before social media took over the world and, in an ironic twist, set his send-up of reality culture and totalitarianism in 2025.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
6 Nov. 2025
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Taut and well-acted as this queasy little thriller can be, its unflinching tale of corporate authoritarianism is much too streamlined to reflect the emotional truth of watching totalitarianism in motion.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
28 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Absolutism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/absolutism. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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