as in dictators
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 despots
So what if the Engineers copied their own DNA to create humanity; how would the discovery of their existence further embolden the wealthy, who already see themselves as new gods, and drive further wedges between despots like the Five?
—
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2025
That’s reminiscent of what the despots of Eastern Europe did during the Cold War, building huge concrete apartment blocks with meager square-foot allotments per family.
—Betsy McCaughey, Boston Herald, 12 Sep. 2025
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2025
That’s reminiscent of what the despots of Eastern Europe did during the Cold War, building huge concrete apartment blocks with meager square-foot allotments per family.
—Betsy McCaughey, Boston Herald, 12 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despots
Noun
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Every culture relates it to its own dictators.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Nov. 2025
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Since then, it has been linked to financial deals for dictators Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein, Islamic terrorist groups and government intelligence agencies including the CIA.—
Deena Sabry,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Knowing that the tyrants in the Kremlin approved all these activities does not negate their positive impact on American society.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
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As historian Timothy Snyder warns, tyrants will always take advantage of a national crisis to consolidate their power and remove their opponents’ civil liberties.—
Rev. Nathan Empsall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Despots.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despots. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.
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