as in tyrant
a person who uses power or authority in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way
the despot exiled political dissidents to remote labor camps, where they were left to rot
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of despot
In one hour, the Georgian despot’s bodyguard will knock on the hotel-room door and make Alec very rich.
—
Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 12 June 2025
There are enough despots around the world using the same divisive techniques — misinformation, disinformation — to control people.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 11 June 2025
Orwell’s warnings apply across the board, not just when obvious despots and lackeys let their fascist flags fly.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2025
Gerhard Siegel earns the audience’s gratitude by singing Herod not as a weak-willed despot but as a comically lascivious burgher out of Rosenkavalier.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despot
Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 12 June 2025
There are enough despots around the world using the same divisive techniques — misinformation, disinformation — to control people.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 11 June 2025
Orwell’s warnings apply across the board, not just when obvious despots and lackeys let their fascist flags fly.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2025
Gerhard Siegel earns the audience’s gratitude by singing Herod not as a weak-willed despot but as a comically lascivious burgher out of Rosenkavalier.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despot
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despot
Noun
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President Trump is, once again, testing the limits of his power, hoping to intimidate other cities into submission to his every vengeful whim by making the once unimaginable—an American tyrant ordering a military occupation of our own capital—a terrifying reality.—
Michael Gfoeller And David H. Rundell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Aug. 2025
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Jack Nicholson’s McMurphy, a swaggering trickster figure, clashes with the institution’s quiet tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), in a battle not just of wills, but of worldviews: chaos versus order, freedom versus conformity.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
29 July 2025
Noun
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So, this is all an opportunity for Donald Trump to play dictator in Washington, D.C.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
17 Aug. 2025
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This perception stems largely from the grip of the country’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko.—
SVIATLANA TSIKHANOUSKAYA,
Foreign Affairs,
8 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Despot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despot. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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