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
Cutting bureaucracy isn’t usually associated with despotism and power grabs.
—
Garry Kasparov, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2025
Picking your form of government used to feel like an existential choice, but now despotism and oligarchy are hardly differentiated.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 12 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
The threat of despotism went away temporarily.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2024
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Garry Kasparov, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2025
Picking your form of government used to feel like an existential choice, but now despotism and oligarchy are hardly differentiated.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 12 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
The threat of despotism went away temporarily.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2024
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despotism
Noun
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This position does not mean in any way ignoring four decades of mismanagement, corruption, oppression, tyranny and incompetence of the Islamic Republic.—
Nick Vivarelli,
Variety,
18 June 2025
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Ever since America’s founders decided that the best way to prevent tyranny was to diffuse power across branches of government, those branches of government have competed for authority.—
Jacob Turcotte,
Christian Science Monitor,
17 June 2025
Noun
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Newsom is a potential Democratic Party presidential nominee in 2028. Democrats, partisan media and other critics of Trump are raising the spectre of diversion of our military from their proper constitutional roles, and even possible military dictatorship.—
Arthur Cyr,
Chicago Tribune,
18 June 2025
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This brings me back to the conclusion that the Venezuelan dictatorship — perhaps Latin America’s biggest potential winner of a global oil price hike — along with Colombia and Mexico may get, at best, a brief respite if the Iran war disrupts world oil shipping lanes.—
Andres Oppenheimer,
Miami Herald,
18 June 2025
Noun
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These distinctions also reveal shifts in the same autocracy over time.—
ELIZABETH N. SAUNDERS,
Foreign Affairs,
16 June 2025
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The world is lurching toward autocracy, with alarming speed.—
Elisa Manfredini,
Time,
14 June 2025
Noun
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Baker reaches from Virginia’s slaveholding history to the poet Ezra Pound’s deluded post–World War II fascism to the misogynistic trolls of Gamergate in her quest to understand Unite the Right.—
Book Marks
June 20,
Literary Hub,
20 June 2025
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Seen as a metaphor for fascism, authoritarian threats and other abuses of power, the script has experienced a resurgence recently.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
18 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Despotism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despotism. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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