as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
the Magna Carta is historically important because it signified the British rejection of autocracy and constituted the first formal restraining of the power of the monarch
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of autocracy
This is a democracy versus autocracy issue.
—
Andrea Hsu, NPR, 7 Oct. 2025
Yet the film’s timeliness is still a tonic, given that the spirit of autocracy looks more and more like a virus that now wants to take over the world.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 Oct. 2025
The Biden administration completed the reversion to a Cold War frame, declaring a global divide between democracies and autocracies, with China and Russia reprising their roles as principal foes.
—Jennifer Kavanagh, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
Andrea Hsu, NPR, 7 Oct. 2025
Yet the film’s timeliness is still a tonic, given that the spirit of autocracy looks more and more like a virus that now wants to take over the world.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 Oct. 2025
The Biden administration completed the reversion to a Cold War frame, declaring a global divide between democracies and autocracies, with China and Russia reprising their roles as principal foes.
—Jennifer Kavanagh, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autocracy
Noun
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These cars are sensational, liberating Honda’s engineering excellence from the tyranny of front-wheel drive.—
Robert Ross,
Robb Report,
28 Oct. 2025
-
Andrew Garfield leads the feature that is now in production, portraying the leader of a ferocious rebellion against the tyranny of King Richard II.—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Minister Kabawat is a member of the Christian minority and a longtime member of the opposition to the former dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad that was defeated by Al-Shara in late 2024.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
27 Oct. 2025
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After the fall of Hungary’s Communist dictatorship, dozens of decommissioned monuments were sent to Budapest’s Memento Park, including the boots from an enormous statue of Stalin, which had been torn down by irate crowds.—
Julian Lucas,
New Yorker,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Politically or electorally speaking, Maoism could hardly be less relevant in this day and age—no one wants egalitarian totalitarianism anymore than (most) people want fascism.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
24 Oct. 2025
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Right-wing figures have blamed the Left for increasing the political temperature and resulting in Kirk’s assassination by weaponizing accusations of fascism, Nazism, and various kinds of bigotry.—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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In recent months, as despotism intensified an increasing number of writers, scholars, and thinkers were declared foreign agents, and their books were taken off the shelves.—
Nina Khrushcheva,
Time,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But unfortunately, that's just the way that authoritarianism progresses.—
Ralphie Aversa,
USA Today,
31 Oct. 2025
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The tactic is basically authoritarianism through fatigue.—
Dan Perry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Autocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autocracy. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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