1
as in cliques
a small group of people who exercise control over a country, business, etc.
Critics complain that the government is now dominated by an oligarchy of wealthy businesspeople.
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2
as in empires
government that is controlled by a small group of people
The nation was an oligarchy with election results manipulated to maintain a permanent ruling class.
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for oligarchies
Noun
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Their parties became notorious even in my own cliques; my parents knew to expect at least a few dozen teenagers crashing their party, sucking down all the noodles, and sneaking beers in the canyon down below.—
Natasha Pickowicz,
Vogue,
20 Feb. 2026 -
This graph had no cliques — clusters of nodes that are all connected to one another.—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Indonesia’s richest man, Michael Bambang Hartono, who helped turn the Djarum cigarette company into one of the country’s largest business empires and later became a controlling shareholder of Bank Central Asia, Indonesia’s biggest private lender, died Thursday.—
Niniek Karmini,
Fortune,
19 Mar. 2026
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Colonial Spain ruled one of the largest empires in history with its territorial holdings spanning 5 continents at its peak between the 16th and 18th centuries.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Look no further than airstrikes in Nigeria, travel bans on 29 countries, and chummy alliances with military juntas.—
Joe Wilkins Published Mar 18,
Futurism,
18 Mar. 2026
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In at least three Sahel states — Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso — military juntas that came to power in coups, notably Niger and Mali, have expelled Western military forces.—
Paul Tilsley,
FOXNews.com,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The deportations have been the subject of two legal challenges in Eswatini, which is ruled by a king and is one of the last absolute monarchies in the world.—
Gerald Imray,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Mar. 2026
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Gulf monarchies have barred residents from filming or livestreaming footage of Iranian strikes, with the UAE arresting dozens of people for sharing video of the conflict online.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
23 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Oligarchies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oligarchies. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.
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