Synonyms of dictatorship

dictatorship

noun

dik-ˈtā-tər-ˌship 

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

• tyranny
• fascism
• autocracy
• despotism
• totalitarianism
• authoritarianism
• absolutism
• monarchy
• autarchy
• Caesarism
• totalism
• oppression
• Communism
• czarism
• Nazism
• domination
• monarchism
• monocracy
• Big Brother
• Big Brotherism

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• democracy
• freedom
• self-government
• self-rule
• self-governance
• autonomy
• sovereignty
• self-determination

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of dictatorship

In Peru under dictatorship, two of three long-time lovers marry for appearances but flee from their conservative rural community for the capital after their secret is exposed by the third. — Katherine Brodsky, Variety, 18 Sep. 2026

International skullduggery in this case concerned the retrieving of two nuclear warheads from a treacherous Caribbean dictatorship. — Ed Olmstead, HollywoodReporter, 17 Sep. 2026

The Struggle of an Unarmed People, chronicling the final year of socialist President Salvador Allende; the 1973 coup d’état which put General Augusto Pinochet in power, and resistance in the early days of the latter’s dictatorship. — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 16 Sep. 2026

The former is a liberal democracy, the latter a vicious dictatorship whose rulers kill their own people to stay in power. — Max Boot, Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2026