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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Xi was flanked by Putin and Kim, two brutal and aggressive dictators whom many nations would rather shun.—
Elizabeth Shackelford,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Sep. 2025
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But wooing Western partners would likely involve some compromises that these dictators are probably unwilling to make.—
Michael Schuman,
The Atlantic,
2 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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Across centuries, rulers who built their power on fear or oppression seemed immovable in their day.—
John Hope Bryant,
Time,
6 Sep. 2025
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Writers and rulers across Europe and the Americas have looked back to Virgil’s epic as a model for their own founding myths, in the construction of new nations, new colonies, new empires.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pharaohs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pharaohs. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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