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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of autocrats
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
If not, aggressive autocrats around the world could learn that violating the sovereignty of weaker neighbors pays off.
—Elizabeth Shackelford, Chicago Tribune, 21 Mar. 2025
And the courts, one of our best places to fight these autocrats, could quickly run out of money.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025
As Carol continues her search for Daryl stateside, the scraggly drifter finds himself on the wrong side of French autocrats while protecting a young boy (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) and a nun (Clémence Poésy), who are trying to flee a religious cult that believes the young man is their messiah.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 14 Mar. 2025
Repressive autocrats around the world know this full well.
—Eli Amdur, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
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
If not, aggressive autocrats around the world could learn that violating the sovereignty of weaker neighbors pays off.
—Elizabeth Shackelford, Chicago Tribune, 21 Mar. 2025
And the courts, one of our best places to fight these autocrats, could quickly run out of money.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025
As Carol continues her search for Daryl stateside, the scraggly drifter finds himself on the wrong side of French autocrats while protecting a young boy (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) and a nun (Clémence Poésy), who are trying to flee a religious cult that believes the young man is their messiah.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 14 Mar. 2025
Repressive autocrats around the world know this full well.
—Eli Amdur, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autocrats
Noun
-
Yet Gulf rulers also share strategic goals with Israel.—
David Mednicoff,
The Conversation,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Inspired by the colonial Singapore gangsters rulers, four girls, at a modern-day regimented elite secondary school form their own gang cam-recording petty acts of rebellion, led by firebrand freethinking lesbian Choo Xin Yu.—
Marta Balaga,
Variety,
7 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Neither a Muslim majority democratic government nor a more hard-line nationalist variant in Iran would sit well with nearby Gulf monarchs.—
David Mednicoff,
The Conversation,
9 Sep. 2025
-
That those women and men who died to end slavery, to win basic rights, to win the vote, to dethrone monarchs and destroy the ancien régime, to fight Czarism and fascism and Nazism and imperialism and apartheid, were in some way our moral betters.—
Jack Sheehan
September 4,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Autocrats.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autocrats. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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