as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
by the end of the 20th century many countries around the world had rejected despotism in favor of democracy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of despotism
The necessity of power sharing also meant that Congress could provide a check against despotism even if the same party held the Presidency and a majority in both houses.
—
David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2025
And there are worse messages to be putting out into the world via family films right now than celebrating the virtues of kindness and fairness over cruel despotism.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2025
Cutting bureaucracy isn’t usually associated with despotism and power grabs.
—Garry Kasparov, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2025
Western governments have burdened Georgia with a special status as a democracy-in-the-making in a region otherwise beset by despotism.
—Christian Caryl, Foreign Affairs, 26 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for despotism
David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2025
And there are worse messages to be putting out into the world via family films right now than celebrating the virtues of kindness and fairness over cruel despotism.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2025
Cutting bureaucracy isn’t usually associated with despotism and power grabs.
—Garry Kasparov, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2025
Western governments have burdened Georgia with a special status as a democracy-in-the-making in a region otherwise beset by despotism.
—Christian Caryl, Foreign Affairs, 26 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despotism
Noun
-
Just days after the sadness at Annunciation, the feeling outside the church of doing something was palpable, not the endless tyranny of hoping somebody else does something.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Due process is what stands between individuals and tyranny.—
Agustina Vergara Cid,
Oc Register,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
No, a dictatorship is not the same as democracy.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
-
First, the Chavist regime of Nicolás Maduro is not operating like a real state or even a classic dictatorship.—
Kristina Foltz,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Assayas addressed the timeliness of the Putin story in a world where autocracy seems to be relentlessly on the rise.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Aug. 2025
-
Among Putin’s various motivations for launching this war, foremost is the threatening alternative that Ukraine’s open political system presents to his own autocracy.—
NATALIYA GUMENYUK,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
The rise of fascism encroaches on her like a disease, culminating in a personal invitation from Mussolini himself, but we’re dealt countless scenes of Eleonora’s psychosis before we’re granted a contextual explanation of what feeds it.—
Blake Simons,
IndieWire,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Despotism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despotism. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share