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
Democracies, Amodei wrote, must move fast to outpace autocracies yet carefully to avoid catastrophe; China chip export controls, research into safe AI, and regulations on AI transparency will be vital.
—
semafor.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Those educated in the rise and fall of nations understand that the path is short from reactive government intervention to institutional oppressive autocracy.
—Torrey Snow, Baltimore Sun, 21 Jan. 2026
The United States had never had the kind of all-encompassing domestic-security apparatus common in autocracies, whose interior departments function as political police.
—Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, 17 Jan. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
semafor.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Those educated in the rise and fall of nations understand that the path is short from reactive government intervention to institutional oppressive autocracy.
—Torrey Snow, Baltimore Sun, 21 Jan. 2026
The United States had never had the kind of all-encompassing domestic-security apparatus common in autocracies, whose interior departments function as political police.
—Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, 17 Jan. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autocracy
Noun
-
In 2012, Manbij became one of the first Syrian cities to wrest itself from the tyranny of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.—
Anand Gopal,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
-
The last was King Charles I, who was tried and executed in 1649 for high treason and tyranny.—
Janet Loehrke,
USA Today,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Then in January, the Iranian people by the millions took to the streets, demanding freedom and an end to the dictatorship which has tormented them since 1979.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
3 Mar. 2026
-
The coup ended Iran’s first experiment with democracy and ushered in over two decades of dictatorship under the shah.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
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What if Scream 7 were about the way nostalgia has become a corrosive force in entertainment, where familiar IP wins out over original ideas, and in the country at large, where fascism promises a return to a past ideal that never existed?—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2026
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To disassociate Braunau from Hitler’s legacy, the town government in 1989 placed a granite block from the Mauthausen concentration camp quarry before the building, inscribed with a memorial to the victims of fascism.—
Cary Lowe,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The hope is that the institutional reforms started by the interim administration of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus deliver the necessary checks and balances to avert another lurch toward despotism.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
-
The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Putting private anguish and public witnessing into forceful tension, Paksa fashioned a productively ambivalent rubric for the artist under authoritarianism.—
Daniel R. Quiles,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
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Resistance against authoritarianism requires a revolution that goes beyond words.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Autocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autocracy. Accessed 6 Mar. 2026.
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