1
as in arbitrary
exercising power or authority without interference by others
a dictatorial leader with total control over people's lives
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in authoritarian
fond of ordering people around
no surprise that the dictatorial manager is highly unpopular among employees
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in arrogant
having or showing a tendency to force one's will on others without any regard to fairness or necessity
even the teachers chafed under the dictatorial rule of the principal
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dictatorial
In Venezuela’s case, those conditions include a humanitarian crisis and a dictatorial regime under investigation for crimes against humanity.
—
Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2025
The fine print on those behaviors includes inappropriate drama, being overly assertive, demanding, dictatorial, insecure, too focused on themselves and quick to react, just to name a few.
—Big Think, 4 Mar. 2025
Don’t let your passion or ego be dictatorial in setting business and product parameters and goals.
—Martin Zwilling, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
And plenty of female coaches can lean dictatorial.
—Matthew Futterman, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dictatorial
Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2025
The fine print on those behaviors includes inappropriate drama, being overly assertive, demanding, dictatorial, insecure, too focused on themselves and quick to react, just to name a few.
—Big Think, 4 Mar. 2025
Don’t let your passion or ego be dictatorial in setting business and product parameters and goals.
—Martin Zwilling, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
And plenty of female coaches can lean dictatorial.
—Matthew Futterman, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dictatorial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dictatorial
Adjective
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Most times, these changes are a result of the over-analysis of some arbitrary KPIs meant to gauge the health and growth of the platform.—
Solo Ceesay,
Rolling Stone,
22 Apr. 2025
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The plaintiffs had argued that the geographic targeting order was unlawfully issued without undergoing the notice-and-comment procedures prescribed by federal law and that the rule is arbitrary and capricious under federal law.—
Alex Riggins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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His parents were Italian immigrants who fled Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime, and his grandmother Rosa Margherita Vassallo di Bergoglio was active in Catholic Action, formed by Italian bishops who wanted to maintain their independence from Mussolini’s authoritarian rule.—
Olivia B. Waxman,
Time,
21 Apr. 2025
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Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been called an authoritarian, and previous reports have noted restrictions to civil liberties.—
Graham Smith,
NPR,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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That doesn’t portray a hero, but rather someone so arrogant as to invent his own law and appoint himself its executioner.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
11 Apr. 2025
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Fed Up in Illinois Dear Fed Up: Is Edie mean, arrogant, disobedient and rude in the presence of her parents, or has she been invited to spend time with your girls separately?—
Abigail Van Buren,
Boston Herald,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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And this immensely oppressive power threatens the very foundation of legal representation in our country.—
Tom Dreisbach,
NPR,
29 Apr. 2025
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However, because ecocriticism emerged in American studies prior to the field’s transnational turn, during a time that emphasized the localized subject as resistance to an oppressive nation-state, ecocritical thought has struggled to adapt.—
Abby Clayton,
JSTOR Daily,
29 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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As mild-mannered schoolteacher Mr. Lisbon, James Woods plays a quiet counterpoint to his domineering wife.—
Sezin Devi Koehler,
EW.com,
21 Apr. 2025
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Among them towers the frighteningly domineering Honoria Glossop.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Critics, including autocratic governments across the region, view it as a threat.—
Omar Akour,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2025
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This new, more favorable vision of Russia was developing its own intellectual architecture, one that married isolationism, nationalism and traditionalism with a growing appreciation for autocratic strongmen who were bending their countries to their will.—
Eric Jason Martin Tanya Pérez Ted Blaisdell,
New York Times,
12 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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In these ways, Trump’s despotic acts are indeed without precedent in American history.—
Patrick Eddington,
Oc Register,
20 Apr. 2025
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It was first created in 1942 specifically to serve as a foil to Axis disinformation and over the years became a beacon of hope to people living under all manner of totalitarian and despotic governments.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
18 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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And what can today’s resistance movements facing tyrannical regimes learn from their success?—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
20 Apr. 2025
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Howard plays himself as a tyrannical auteur who petulantly refuses to cut a vacuous scene from his overlong thriller, warding off pleas only to change his mind at the moment of truth.—
Peter Bart,
Deadline,
10 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dictatorial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dictatorial. Accessed 5 May. 2025.
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