antidemocratic

adjective

Definition of antidemocraticnext
as in totalitarian

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of antidemocratic Great replacement theory has spurred many everyday White people into supporting antidemocratic political parties that harm most White people—and the rest of us. — Literary Hub, 18 Mar. 2026 By partly neutralizing criticism that its leaders are elitist or antidemocratic, the right has been able to focus on issues that play to its strengths. — Brian Winter, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025 That is why critics of gerrymandering are right to regard it as antidemocratic. — Craig Gilbert, jsonline.com, 25 Sep. 2025 That pursuit was also driven by the transformation of conservatism itself—which, beginning in the Nineties, became ever more extremist, populist, anti-government, antidemocratic, and supportive of authoritarian measures. — Terry M. Moe, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for antidemocratic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for antidemocratic
  1. totalitarian
  2. oppressive
  3. authoritarian
  4. autocratic
  5. magisterial
  6. tyrannical
Adjective
  • Orwell was exploring the roles that euphemism, tangled syntax, and dying metaphors can play in obscuring the true intentions of a totalitarian state.
    — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Since then, North Korea has expanded its nuclear weapons program, and analysts believe the totalitarian regime now has dozens of nuclear warheads.
    — Anna Coren, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of totalitarian
Adjective
  • Resident's death under investigation The Middlesex County District Attorney's office, as well as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, are examining whether the oppressive heat played any role in the resident's death.
    — Kristina Rex, CBS News, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The combination was as oppressive as the thermometer reading.
    — Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of oppressive
Adjective
  • El Sistema was founded decades before Hugo Chavez came to power in a populist revolution that quickly turned authoritarian.
    — Max Feliu, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026
  • What readers are saying The comments express overwhelming disapproval and outrage over the idea of live-streaming a public execution, likening it to barbaric practices of authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups.
    — Aoife Walsh, Washington Post, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of authoritarian
Adjective
  • Lampooning authority is even common in autocratic societies where governments spend large sums of money suppressing speech.
    — Christopher von Rueden, The Conversation, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Despite the many obstacles to deployment, the technology is already bringing autocratic regimes the upsides of cheaper surveillance, smarter censorship, and fewer human subordinates to fear and distrust.
    — Seva Gunitsky, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of autocratic
Adjective
  • Eva Marie Saint, the Academy Award-winning star of such classic Hollywood films as On the Waterfront and North by Northwest, has died at the magisterial age of 102, according to a family representative.
    — Vogue, Vogue, 7 Oct. 2026
  • In both cases, there is something at once magisterial and leadenly self-regarding about the melancholic rhythms of Cusk’s prose, with its stiff and stately syntax and its utter impatience with the real vagaries of difference.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of magisterial
Adjective
  • Putting your face on the passport, like forcing your name onto another President’s memorial, is a symptom of tyrannical egotism, exactly opposite to the republican premise.
    — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Domingo played the tyrannical show-biz patriarch Joe Jackson in the movie.
    — Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of tyrannical

Browse Nearby Words

antics
antidemocratic
antidepressant
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Cite this Entry

“Antidemocratic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/antidemocratic. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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