1
as in monarchy
a system of government in which a religious body holds unlimited power
Under a theocracy, an entire nation officially follows one religion.
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2
as in democracy
a group of people who live in a territory ruled by a religious body
The country was a theocracy governed by religious leaders.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of theocracy
Pezeshkian and other Iranian leaders have underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls ballistic missiles used to target Israel and other countries.
—
ABC News, 8 Mar. 2026
The message, seemingly filmed in a hurry without professional broadcast equipment, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries.
—Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2026
The message, seemingly filmed in a hurry, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries.
—Jon Gambrell, Chicago Tribune, 7 Mar. 2026
Repeating failures Afghanistan was a theocracy controlled by the extremist Taliban.
—Jill Lawrence, Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for theocracy
ABC News, 8 Mar. 2026
The message, seemingly filmed in a hurry without professional broadcast equipment, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries.
—Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2026
The message, seemingly filmed in a hurry, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries.
—Jon Gambrell, Chicago Tribune, 7 Mar. 2026
Repeating failures Afghanistan was a theocracy controlled by the extremist Taliban.
—Jill Lawrence, Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for theocracy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for theocracy
Noun
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The succession from father to son is notable because the revolution overthrew a hereditary monarchy.—
Jennifer Jacobs,
CBS News,
15 Mar. 2026
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All of this comes as reports that the two will lose a lot of their privileges as the monarchy shrinks in the future.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
14 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Addressing a crowd of at least 100,000 on Budapest's Heroes' Square, Magyar charged Orbán's government with turning Hungarians against one another through propaganda and divisive policies, and of steering the country away from its rightful place among Western democracies.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
16 Mar. 2026
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The same is true of Ukraine, whose democracy (with its substantial flaws) Russia could not abide as a standing alternative to its own system, and of Taiwan, which cannot threaten China, but whose flourishing demonstrates that Beijing’s system is not the only option.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
15 Mar. 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
Noun
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Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said its systems intercepted and destroyed 10 drones over the capital, Riyadh, and the kingdom’s eastern region.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
15 Mar. 2026
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The kingdom built a pipeline stretching across the country during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s to prepare for exactly this kind of disruption.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
15 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, established a religious dictatorship that subjugates the Iranian people under sharia law, while zealously exporting its dogma by force.—
Elan Journo,
Oc Register,
10 Mar. 2026
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Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz’s ‘Another League’ chronicles the defiant birth of women’s soccer in the waning years of Francisco Franco’s arcane dictatorship in early 1970s Spain – today the reigning world champions after winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.—
Ed Meza,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
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There was no foreseeable impediment to our messy but functional republic.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Mar. 2026
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After all, Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco, who led the overthrow of the republic and then ruled from 1939 until his death in 1975, still casts a long, and often painful, shadow.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
12 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Theocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/theocracy. Accessed 16 Mar. 2026.
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