as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a revolution that only ended up replacing one dictatorship with another
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dictatorship
Last Friday, Venezuela observed a national holiday commemorating the fall of a military dictatorship that ruled the country until 1958.
—
Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2026
Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder (2003) used the serial killer genre to explore the country’s transition from military dictatorship to democracy.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Confronting one of the darkest chapters in Argentina’s history, the 1985 play by Eduardo Pavlovsky, a psychotherapist, writer and actor, is about a man caught up in the systematic kidnapping of children during a military dictatorship.
—Manuel Mendoza, Dallas Morning News, 29 Jan. 2026
If all goes to hell and America devolves into a rank dictatorship, beware the bootlicker.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dictatorship
Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2026
Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder (2003) used the serial killer genre to explore the country’s transition from military dictatorship to democracy.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Confronting one of the darkest chapters in Argentina’s history, the 1985 play by Eduardo Pavlovsky, a psychotherapist, writer and actor, is about a man caught up in the systematic kidnapping of children during a military dictatorship.
—Manuel Mendoza, Dallas Morning News, 29 Jan. 2026
If all goes to hell and America devolves into a rank dictatorship, beware the bootlicker.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dictatorship
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dictatorship
Noun
-
Bashar al-Assad, who oversaw the torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of his fellow Syrians during a quarter century in power, may have achieved something new in the annals of tyranny.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
6 Feb. 2026
-
People, third and fourth generation Minnesotans were talking about tyranny.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
1 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Genocide, conspiracy, and fascism can and will happen here.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
5 Feb. 2026
-
That is really thuggish fascism.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Joy Neumeyer What do the far right’s fluctuating fortunes in Poland suggest about countries seeking an off-ramp from autocracy?—
Leah Downey,
The New York Review of Books,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Amodei’s essay covers a lot of ground, from existential threats to fighting autocracy to saving jobs.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The hope is that the institutional reforms started by the interim administration of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus deliver the necessary checks and balances to avert another lurch toward despotism.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
-
The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dictatorship.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dictatorship. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
