as in dictators
a person who uses power or authority in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way
like some pharaoh of a third-world country, more interested in building monuments to himself than in creating a future for his people
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Recent Examples of pharaohs
Leprosy still existed, pharaohs did not.
—
Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2025
Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pharaohs
Noun
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The persecution worsened more than a decade ago during uprisings that remade the Middle East by toppling dictators — including Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak — but in some places spiraled into civil war.—
Hannah Allam,
ProPublica,
10 Sep. 2025
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Movie lovers tend to think of producers as dictators of formulas, oppressors of originality, the enemies of art, but that just reflects the unfortunate history of studio filmmaking in Hollywood and elsewhere.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
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And while the band's frontman Freddie Mercury only made it into his 40s, the song's question continues to haunt people—especially aging tyrants who fear that the icy hand of death is upon their shoulder and want far more time to ensure both national and personal glory.—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
3 Sep. 2025
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But by positioning this as a story of a younger generation refusing to cede their liberties to tyrants, Loktev has made a film about resistance, putting a human face on the daily struggles concerned citizens must endure to take back their country.—
Tim Grierson,
Rolling Stone,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Yet Gulf rulers also share strategic goals with Israel.—
David Mednicoff,
The Conversation,
9 Sep. 2025
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Inspired by the colonial Singapore gangsters rulers, four girls, at a modern-day regimented elite secondary school form their own gang cam-recording petty acts of rebellion, led by firebrand freethinking lesbian Choo Xin Yu.—
Marta Balaga,
Variety,
7 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pharaohs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pharaohs. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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