as in totalitarian
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Recent Examples of jackbooted
Cooper was obsessed with the New World Order and the actions of jackbooted government enforcers against the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
—
Andrew Stuttaford, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2018
Likethumb_up Replyreply Linklink Copy Reportflag eraley 22 minutes ago
Trump’s America and his jackbooted thugs.
—Marwa Eltagouri, Washington Post, 28 May 2018
These are the words and actions similar to low-level criminals in the mob or jackbooted followers of fascist leaders in 1930s Europe, not the president of the United States in 2018.
—David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 26 Mar. 2018
But what makes director Jeremy Wechsler’s production engaging throughout is the way the cast commits to these characters without turning them into caricatures of either obsessive-nerd culture or jackbooted thugs.
—Kerry Reid, chicagotribune.com, 31 Jan. 2018
Was Rizzo a jackbooted tyrant who went out of his way to punish blacks and gays?
—David Gambacorta, Philly.com, 22 Aug. 2017
For some, the racist taunts of the past few days recalled a time when jackbooted members of the far-right National Front taunted immigrants on the streets of Britain in the 1980s, during the painful deindustrialization of the Thatcher era.
—Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, 27 June 2016
Andrew Stuttaford, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2018
Likethumb_up Replyreply Linklink Copy Reportflag eraley 22 minutes ago
Trump’s America and his jackbooted thugs.
—Marwa Eltagouri, Washington Post, 28 May 2018
These are the words and actions similar to low-level criminals in the mob or jackbooted followers of fascist leaders in 1930s Europe, not the president of the United States in 2018.
—David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 26 Mar. 2018
But what makes director Jeremy Wechsler’s production engaging throughout is the way the cast commits to these characters without turning them into caricatures of either obsessive-nerd culture or jackbooted thugs.
—Kerry Reid, chicagotribune.com, 31 Jan. 2018
Was Rizzo a jackbooted tyrant who went out of his way to punish blacks and gays?
—David Gambacorta, Philly.com, 22 Aug. 2017
For some, the racist taunts of the past few days recalled a time when jackbooted members of the far-right National Front taunted immigrants on the streets of Britain in the 1980s, during the painful deindustrialization of the Thatcher era.
—Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, 27 June 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for jackbooted
Adjective
-
Paksa restages the medium’s tendency toward repetition but strips it of entertainment value, revealing the medium as an extension of totalitarian control.—
Daniel R. Quiles,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
-
Education isn’t a cure-all; North Korea appears to have decent schools yet is impoverished and totalitarian.—
Nicholas D. Kristof,
Mercury News,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
There is something oppressive about being tied into everything all the time.—
Benjamin Svetkey,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Mar. 2026
-
Iran is a bad actor and oppressive state that has suppressed its people and supported terrorism around the world.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
28 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The authoritarian regime has brutally oppressed the people of Iran for generations.—
The Editorial Board,
Oc Register,
5 Mar. 2026
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Or think of how extreme weather can disrupt voting access, creating real and perceived grievances that are fertile ground for authoritarian interference in elections.—
Michael Chertoff,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Yet the tyrannical impulse of authoritarian populists is the same across the world.—
Anand Gopal,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
-
The Colbert episode did not prove that the agency is tyrannical or obsolete.—
Jay Caruso,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
My ability to complete Ballot during a genocide and despotic takeover hinged on confronting these uncomfortable truths.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
26 Feb. 2026
-
The book explains the world order as three despotic governments that horrifically dominate their citizens, control their respective satellite allies and are always at war.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
19 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Compared to their forerunners in the tsarist era, with their party congresses held abroad, their executive committees, and their active recruitment in imperial Russia’s universities, Soviet dissidents remained a comparatively small and informal conglomeration of activists.—
Benjamin Nathans
September 24,
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
-
Since tsarist times, Russia has ensured Armenia’s loyalty by promising to defend it against the Ottoman Empire (and then against its successor, Turkey) with sustained military support.—
Thomas de Waal,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Memories of the shah's autocratic rule remain mixed in the country, although nostalgia for the period's economic prosperity has grown.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
27 Feb. 2026
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Was this a prank, an autocratic emergency, or something else?—
Andrew Marantz,
New Yorker,
27 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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These tyrannous tabbies don’t understand that canning is not exclusively for wet food.—
Julie Klausner,
Vulture,
27 Dec. 2024
-
Indeed, Daniel Roher’s pulse-pumping documentary about the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has all the ingredients: a mysterious case of near-fatal poisoning, a web of for-hire hoodlums, Vladimir Putin as the tyrannous leader behind it all.—
Tomris Laffly,
Harper's BAZAAR,
1 Feb. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Jackbooted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jackbooted. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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