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
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Recent Examples of dictatorship
But that argument risks perpetuating a bloody dictatorship and scaring off foreign investors.
—
Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald, 16 Jan. 2026
The United Fruit Company owned over 550,000 acres of Guatemalan land, largely thanks to its deals with previous dictatorships.
—Aaron Coy Moulton, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2026
Leadership is not dictatorship.
—Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 14 Jan. 2026
The martial law declaration, which triggered swift parliamentary opposition and political turmoil, evoked traumatic memories of South Korea’s military dictatorship era.
—Hyung-Jin Kim, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dictatorship
Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald, 16 Jan. 2026
The United Fruit Company owned over 550,000 acres of Guatemalan land, largely thanks to its deals with previous dictatorships.
—Aaron Coy Moulton, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2026
Leadership is not dictatorship.
—Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 14 Jan. 2026
The martial law declaration, which triggered swift parliamentary opposition and political turmoil, evoked traumatic memories of South Korea’s military dictatorship era.
—Hyung-Jin Kim, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dictatorship
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dictatorship
Noun
-
History does not record many cases in which a power-mad leader careening toward tyranny suddenly regained his senses and became more moderate.—
David Brooks,
Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Washington was a slaveholder and had fought a revolution to overthrow British tyranny.—
John Garrison Marks,
Time,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
With football, the psychology of fascism works.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Sean Penn has the showiest performance, embodying all that is ridiculous about fascism, while his co-star Benicio del Toro makes an equally indelible impression embodying the quiet dignity of resistance.—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Those educated in the rise and fall of nations understand that the path is short from reactive government intervention to institutional oppressive autocracy.—
Torrey Snow,
Baltimore Sun,
21 Jan. 2026
-
The United States had never had the kind of all-encompassing domestic-security apparatus common in autocracies, whose interior departments function as political police.—
Nick Miroff,
The Atlantic,
17 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
-
These achievements made the United States the political model of the liberal state, which displaced the monarchical dynasties of Europe in the nineteenth century, then rescued Western civilization from the totalitarian despotisms of Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union in the twentieth.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dictatorship.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dictatorship. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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