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
Democrats, on the other hand, are blasting this move as a sign of impending authoritarianism and call it an unprecedented overreach in presidential authority.
—
Rachel Schilke, The Washington Examiner, 29 Aug. 2025
That, in fact, political authoritarianism was more likely to lead to modernization and advancement.
—Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2025
Was this announcement a sign of creeping authoritarianism?
—Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025
The factors that in hindsight might explain the country’s abrupt upheaval—its swift economic growth followed by a downturn, its rapid urbanization, its authoritarianism, its corruption—were fairly normal.
—Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
That aligns nicely with authoritarianism.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2025
Rachel Schilke, The Washington Examiner, 29 Aug. 2025
That, in fact, political authoritarianism was more likely to lead to modernization and advancement.
—Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2025
Was this announcement a sign of creeping authoritarianism?
—Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025
The factors that in hindsight might explain the country’s abrupt upheaval—its swift economic growth followed by a downturn, its rapid urbanization, its authoritarianism, its corruption—were fairly normal.
—Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
That aligns nicely with authoritarianism.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for authoritarianism
Noun
-
Just days after the sadness at Annunciation, the feeling outside the church of doing something was palpable, not the endless tyranny of hoping somebody else does something.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Due process is what stands between individuals and tyranny.—
Agustina Vergara Cid,
Oc Register,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
No, a dictatorship is not the same as democracy.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
-
First, the Chavist regime of Nicolás Maduro is not operating like a real state or even a classic dictatorship.—
Kristina Foltz,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
That those women and men who died to end slavery, to win basic rights, to win the vote, to dethrone monarchs and destroy the ancien régime, to fight Czarism and fascism and Nazism and imperialism and apartheid, were in some way our moral betters.—
Jack Sheehan
September 4,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
-
The rise of fascism encroaches on her like a disease, culminating in a personal invitation from Mussolini himself, but we’re dealt countless scenes of Eleonora’s psychosis before we’re granted a contextual explanation of what feeds it.—
Blake Simons,
IndieWire,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Assayas addressed the timeliness of the Putin story in a world where autocracy seems to be relentlessly on the rise.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Aug. 2025
-
Among Putin’s various motivations for launching this war, foremost is the threatening alternative that Ukraine’s open political system presents to his own autocracy.—
NATALIYA GUMENYUK,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Eclectic traditionalism, remade on an elephantine scale, is the style of totalitarianism.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Brzezinski would dedicate his academic and professional life to studying and undermining the forces of totalitarianism and authoritarianism that had overtaken his homeland during his childhood.—
Niall Ferguson,
Foreign Affairs,
19 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
The Bashar Assad regime’s collapse inspired a wave of optimism about despotism turning into democracy.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Aug. 2025
-
If not for our nation’s First Amendment, our country could quickly resemble a despotism where police forces attack reporters and quash news reports that diverge from the official view.—
The Editorial Board,
Oc Register,
15 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Authoritarianism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/authoritarianism. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share