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
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Recent Examples of despotism
These achievements made the United States the political model of the liberal state, which displaced the monarchical dynasties of Europe in the nineteenth century, then rescued Western civilization from the totalitarian despotisms of Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union in the twentieth.
—
Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
That’s authoritarian bluster of the sort heard in despotisms.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 4 Oct. 2025
Rather than panicking over Moscow’s maneuverings or conditioning their own support on Syria’s total break with Russia, U.S. and European leaders should focus on helping Syrians recover after a decade of civil war and a half century of despotism.
—Hanna Notte, Foreign Affairs, 3 Oct. 2025
The Bashar Assad regime’s collapse inspired a wave of optimism about despotism turning into democracy.
—Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
That’s authoritarian bluster of the sort heard in despotisms.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 4 Oct. 2025
Rather than panicking over Moscow’s maneuverings or conditioning their own support on Syria’s total break with Russia, U.S. and European leaders should focus on helping Syrians recover after a decade of civil war and a half century of despotism.
—Hanna Notte, Foreign Affairs, 3 Oct. 2025
The Bashar Assad regime’s collapse inspired a wave of optimism about despotism turning into democracy.
—Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despotism
Noun
-
In 2012, Manbij became one of the first Syrian cities to wrest itself from the tyranny of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.—
Anand Gopal,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
-
The last was King Charles I, who was tried and executed in 1649 for high treason and tyranny.—
Janet Loehrke,
USA Today,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Then in January, the Iranian people by the millions took to the streets, demanding freedom and an end to the dictatorship which has tormented them since 1979.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
3 Mar. 2026
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The coup ended Iran’s first experiment with democracy and ushered in over two decades of dictatorship under the shah.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
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What if Scream 7 were about the way nostalgia has become a corrosive force in entertainment, where familiar IP wins out over original ideas, and in the country at large, where fascism promises a return to a past ideal that never existed?—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2026
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To disassociate Braunau from Hitler’s legacy, the town government in 1989 placed a granite block from the Mauthausen concentration camp quarry before the building, inscribed with a memorial to the victims of fascism.—
Cary Lowe,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The Iranian regime is a theocratic autocracy controlled by religious figureheads and hardliners fully committed to the system that enriches and bestows power upon them today.—
Alexander Langlois,
Oc Register,
18 Feb. 2026
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As the United States heads toward the midterm elections, there are growing concerns among some political scientists that the country has moved even further along the path to some form of autocracy.—
Frank Langfitt,
NPR,
16 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Despotism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despotism. Accessed 6 Mar. 2026.
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