as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a critical period that saw a number of third-world countries abandon authoritarianism for democracy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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 authoritarianism
Long before authoritarianism took hold, many Venezuelans felt that the system no longer worked for them.
—
Arkansas Online, 9 Jan. 2026
These efforts served as a soft-power hedge against authoritarianism, making clear that economic ties should also elevate human dignity.
—Tharo Khun, Sourcing Journal, 8 Jan. 2026
The League of Nations was the forerunner to the UN and is famous among historians for its formation after the wreckage of World War I and its almost immediate failure to prevent the rise of authoritarianism in the 1930s that gave way to World War II.
—Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 5 Jan. 2026
Maduro inherited a nation strained by falling oil production and entrenched corruption, but his administration’s response — defined by economic mismanagement, rigid ideological controls and deepening authoritarianism — sharply accelerated the country’s unraveling.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 3 Jan. 2026
There is a painful irony in this reversal of national fortunes, best illustrated by the current running joke in Brazil that the White House has opened a US embassy on American soil, a nod to the US government’s nefarious history of abetting authoritarianism in Brazil.
—Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Its trappings remain, but authoritarianism and AI are hollowing out our humanity.
—Bhumika Tharoor, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2025
Chile has spent a decade oscillating between the center left and the center right, and Kast’s election is a departure—as well as an echo of a regional trend toward authoritarianism.
—Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2025
On the history and future of authoritarianism, war, and literature in Europe.
—Literary Hub, 18 Dec. 2025
Arkansas Online, 9 Jan. 2026
These efforts served as a soft-power hedge against authoritarianism, making clear that economic ties should also elevate human dignity.
—Tharo Khun, Sourcing Journal, 8 Jan. 2026
The League of Nations was the forerunner to the UN and is famous among historians for its formation after the wreckage of World War I and its almost immediate failure to prevent the rise of authoritarianism in the 1930s that gave way to World War II.
—Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 5 Jan. 2026
Maduro inherited a nation strained by falling oil production and entrenched corruption, but his administration’s response — defined by economic mismanagement, rigid ideological controls and deepening authoritarianism — sharply accelerated the country’s unraveling.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 3 Jan. 2026
There is a painful irony in this reversal of national fortunes, best illustrated by the current running joke in Brazil that the White House has opened a US embassy on American soil, a nod to the US government’s nefarious history of abetting authoritarianism in Brazil.
—Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Its trappings remain, but authoritarianism and AI are hollowing out our humanity.
—Bhumika Tharoor, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2025
Chile has spent a decade oscillating between the center left and the center right, and Kast’s election is a departure—as well as an echo of a regional trend toward authoritarianism.
—Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2025
On the history and future of authoritarianism, war, and literature in Europe.
—Literary Hub, 18 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for authoritarianism
Noun
-
Continue reading … 'HISTORIC DAY' – Venezuelan opposition leader celebrates January 3 as 'day that justice defeated tyranny' after Maduro capture.—
,
FOXNews.com,
6 Jan. 2026
-
In the past, a popular uprising or a coup could bring tyranny to an end.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
4 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
His socialist dictatorship, hostile to human life, crushed Venezuelans’ freedoms for years.—
Agustina Vergara Cid,
Oc Register,
7 Jan. 2026
-
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
-
Europe was collapsing under fascism.—
Philip Martin,
Washington Post,
7 Jan. 2026
-
This is likewise the thrust of Salò, based on the Marquis de Sade’s The 120 Days of Sodom, an orgiastic, disturbing carnival of torture, rape, and killing, reset by Pasolini in the town from which fascism reigned in the 1940s.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
After Al Qaeda and then Saddam Hussein abruptly emerged as incarnations of a new totalitarianism, Michael Ignatieff and Niall Ferguson, among many others, impatiently urged the United States to assume its imperial obligations and impose democracy, human rights, and free trade through war.—
Victor J. Blue,
Harpers Magazine,
23 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Authoritarianism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/authoritarianism. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
