as in rulers
one who rules over a people with a sole, supreme, and usually hereditary authority
European autocrats once commonly believed that they had received the right to rule directly from God
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Recent Examples of autocrats
By prohibiting questions and challenges, autocrats gain the power to limit how people think and control their bodies.
—
Elizabeth Anne Wood, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
But the thing about play that feels essential at this point in history is that autocrats hate play.
—Matt Negrin, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2025
The idea that speech or thought contrary to the government line could trigger punishment is the dream of autocrats.
—Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2025
And as is true in all fights against cowardly, bullying, thin-skinned autocrats, our weakness was provocative.
—Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
Fear, after all, is an essential tool for all autocrats, and Hamas is no exception.
—Sean Durns, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
Both would be peace efforts – but Trump is well known to praise these autocrats.
—Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Most of the countries represented at the summit were represented by autocrats of one or other description—such as Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian and Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko.
—Bobby Ghosh, Time, 2 Sep. 2025
Responses that, early on, can feel pragmatic—waiting it out, remaining silent, cutting a deal—only embolden autocrats, leading ultimately to the demise of democracy itself.
—Daniel Ziblatt, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2025
Elizabeth Anne Wood, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
But the thing about play that feels essential at this point in history is that autocrats hate play.
—Matt Negrin, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2025
The idea that speech or thought contrary to the government line could trigger punishment is the dream of autocrats.
—Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2025
And as is true in all fights against cowardly, bullying, thin-skinned autocrats, our weakness was provocative.
—Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
Fear, after all, is an essential tool for all autocrats, and Hamas is no exception.
—Sean Durns, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
Both would be peace efforts – but Trump is well known to praise these autocrats.
—Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Most of the countries represented at the summit were represented by autocrats of one or other description—such as Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian and Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko.
—Bobby Ghosh, Time, 2 Sep. 2025
Responses that, early on, can feel pragmatic—waiting it out, remaining silent, cutting a deal—only embolden autocrats, leading ultimately to the demise of democracy itself.
—Daniel Ziblatt, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autocrats
Noun
-
Punk music and its spirit clearly worried the Soviet rulers.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Nov. 2025
-
But hijab is no side issue for Tehran’s rulers.—
Arash Azizi,
The Atlantic,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Every so often, the dead monarchs and their court sashay out of the past to offer unsubtle commentary.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
10 Nov. 2025
-
Some ironic anti-royalists wore golden paper crowns from Burger King, but the more sartorially, not to say lepidopterously, dedicated came dressed as orange-and-black butterflies, these being the only monarchs allowed in America.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Autocrats.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autocrats. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.
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