1
as in disciplinarians
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2
as in dictators
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Recent Examples of authoritarians
Not your grandma’s authoritarians Today’s authoritarian rulers realize that civil society has the potential to support democracy and pry loose their grip on power.
—
Christopher Justin Einolf, The Conversation, 26 Sep. 2025
Christopher Justin Einolf, The Conversation, 26 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for authoritarians
Noun
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But as the microbes spread across the screen, the visual becomes almost hypnotic—and, as Peck recently told me, akin to how dictators overwhelm people’s abilities to determine fact from fiction.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
21 Oct. 2025
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The author understood how power works, and the lengths that people, classes, political parties and dictators would go to keep it.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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As historian Timothy Snyder warns, tyrants will always take advantage of a national crisis to consolidate their power and remove their opponents’ civil liberties.—
Rev. Nathan Empsall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
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And while the band's frontman Freddie Mercury only made it into his 40s, the song's question continues to haunt people—especially aging tyrants who fear that the icy hand of death is upon their shoulder and want far more time to ensure both national and personal glory.—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As carry-on only travelers, Ryan and I are sticklers about efficient packing.—
Kristine Thomason,
Travel + Leisure,
23 Aug. 2025
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Regardless of what legal-ethics sticklers might think of its business model, the 156-person startup has been growing quickly.—
Danielle Chemtob,
Forbes.com,
21 Aug. 2025
Noun
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So what if the Engineers copied their own DNA to create humanity; how would the discovery of their existence further embolden the wealthy, who already see themselves as new gods, and drive further wedges between despots like the Five?—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
24 Sep. 2025
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That’s reminiscent of what the despots of Eastern Europe did during the Cold War, building huge concrete apartment blocks with meager square-foot allotments per family.—
Betsy McCaughey,
Boston Herald,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Work is work, and there’s writerly reward, too, in daily encounters with a diverse range of taskmasters across all social groups.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
29 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Authoritarians.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/authoritarians. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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