as in monarchy
a system of government in which there is only one ruler whose power is unlimited
Until its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union operated under a monocracy.
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Recent Examples of monocracy
The Biden administration justified its decision — or no decision — with the tired old rationalizations and justifications that the U.S. has been using for years to give the medieval monocracy a pass on human rights violations.
—
Ahmed Tharwat, Star Tribune, 1 Mar. 2021
Ahmed Tharwat, Star Tribune, 1 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for monocracy
Noun
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In 2024, under Malaysia’s unique rotating monarchy, the current Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ibni Iskandar, was crowned the nation’s king for five years, shining a brighter spotlight on his state.—
Jeff Chu,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Feb. 2026
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One person who worked on the project said the UAE hopes the chatbot will project a political line consistent with the monarchy’s.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The royal government was also known as a dictatorship for banning political parties, suppressing revolts and political opposition, controlling the press and having its own secret police force called SAVAK.—
Nollyanne Delacruz,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
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Throughout, Hadi calls attention to the brutality that’s endemic in Iraqi daily life under a dictatorship.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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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
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People, third and fourth generation Minnesotans were talking about tyranny.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
1 Feb. 2026
Noun
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But with his bent turned toward authoritarianism, the voters are now rejecting his policies.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
9 Feb. 2026
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These comments are said against a backdrop of escalating violence and authoritarianism in this country that’s directly tied to out-of-control behavior by federal agents conducting immigration raids.—
Thomas Kennedy,
Sun Sentinel,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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But for anyone outside the British elite, the constitutional monarchism that emerged after the civil wars did not look much like democracy or true liberty.—
Andrew Cockburn,
Harper's Magazine,
20 Aug. 2024
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And the Decemberists tried to overthrow the Tsar and insist on having some of the more basic aspects of representative constitutional monarchism introduced into Russia.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
7 Dec. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Monocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monocracy. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.
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