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
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
That is why despotism has been the rule and liberty and justice the exception since the beginning of time.
—Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 31 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for despotism
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
That is why despotism has been the rule and liberty and justice the exception since the beginning of time.
—Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 31 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despotism
Noun
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Cutié, 56, knows about the tyranny many Cubans have lived under.—
Michael Butler,
Miami Herald,
14 Mar. 2026
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Was her exclusion from the political world not its own kind of tyranny?—
Moira Donegan,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The White House believes Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is calling the shots, a significant change from the theocratic dictatorship that has existed since the country's 1979 revolution.—
Jennifer Jacobs,
CBS News,
15 Mar. 2026
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Where the Silence Is Heard follows her journey of renovating the house and piecing together her family’s history, which has been colored by the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, exile, and decades of silence.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In Germany, the generation who educate the next generation, this is totally destroyed because of the fascism between ‘33 and ‘45.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
19 Mar. 2026
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The dark joke on both sides of the record is that fascism wasn’t defeated in World War II, only domesticated.—
Andrew Katzenstein,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Mar. 2026
Noun
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For example, in the 1930s, four major democracies (Germany, Japan, Italy, and Spain) became autocracies.—
Ray Dalio,
Fortune,
14 Mar. 2026
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There’s a lot of different crumbs of what leads to the autocracy, to the potential dictatorship.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
12 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Despotism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despotism. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
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