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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of autocracy
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
But experts worry this audacious undertaking risks fraying the last remaining threads of international norms, emboldening autocracies into new acts of aggression without fear of consequences.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 5 Jan. 2026
Education is the natural enemy of complacency and autocracy.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 5 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
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
But experts worry this audacious undertaking risks fraying the last remaining threads of international norms, emboldening autocracies into new acts of aggression without fear of consequences.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 5 Jan. 2026
Education is the natural enemy of complacency and autocracy.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 5 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for autocracy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autocracy
Noun
-
Bashar al-Assad, who oversaw the torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of his fellow Syrians during a quarter century in power, may have achieved something new in the annals of tyranny.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
6 Feb. 2026
-
People, third and fourth generation Minnesotans were talking about tyranny.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
1 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The royal government was also known as a dictatorship for banning political parties, suppressing revolts and political opposition, controlling the press and having its own secret police force called SAVAK.—
Nollyanne Delacruz,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Throughout, Hadi calls attention to the brutality that’s endemic in Iraqi daily life under a dictatorship.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
From ancient sources philosophers and poets, democrats and demagogues, found justification for everything from anarchy to fascism, and there are reasons for both justifications.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
-
That is really thuggish fascism.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
28 Jan. 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
-
But with his bent turned toward authoritarianism, the voters are now rejecting his policies.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
9 Feb. 2026
-
These comments are said against a backdrop of escalating violence and authoritarianism in this country that’s directly tied to out-of-control behavior by federal agents conducting immigration raids.—
Thomas Kennedy,
Sun Sentinel,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Autocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autocracy. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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