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
Khamenei’s public absence throughout the conflict and his raspy speech in its aftermath have prompted speculation about his health and the theocracy’s continuity of leadership.
—
Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 6 Aug. 2025
Any sense that history trends in a general direction—toward freedom, perhaps, or toward rights, markets, secularism, or science—is confounded by a large, prosperous country becoming a hard-line semi-theocracy.
—Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
More broadly, Iranian American artists yearn for a future when Iran isn’t automatically conflated in American popular culture with theocracy, militancy and radicalism.
—Dan Bilefsky, HollywoodReporter, 25 July 2025
King’s Chapel was established in 1683 as the first Anglican church in New England, which was settled starting in 1620 by dissenters who wanted a theocracy and religion shorn of folderol, cant, and the stink of popes and kings.
—Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for theocracy
Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 6 Aug. 2025
Any sense that history trends in a general direction—toward freedom, perhaps, or toward rights, markets, secularism, or science—is confounded by a large, prosperous country becoming a hard-line semi-theocracy.
—Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
More broadly, Iranian American artists yearn for a future when Iran isn’t automatically conflated in American popular culture with theocracy, militancy and radicalism.
—Dan Bilefsky, HollywoodReporter, 25 July 2025
King’s Chapel was established in 1683 as the first Anglican church in New England, which was settled starting in 1620 by dissenters who wanted a theocracy and religion shorn of folderol, cant, and the stink of popes and kings.
—Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for theocracy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for theocracy
Noun
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Most of the territory felt a strong desire to maintain close connection to the monarchy and British Empire, but otherwise the colonies of British North America were far apart from one another geographically and psychologically.—
Dónal Gill,
The Dial,
28 Oct. 2025
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This is doing real damage to the monarchy.—
StyleCaster Editors,
StyleCaster,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Third spaces furnish the connective tissue that hold a multifaith and multiethnic democracy together, Oldenburg said.—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
26 Oct. 2025
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Boycotts don’t build democracy.—
Danish Manzoor Bhat,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Oct. 2025
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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While oil continues to drive Saudi Arabia's economy, the kingdom is now expanding into areas such as artificial intelligence, tourism and sports to diversify its growth avenues.—
Lim Hui Jie,
CNBC,
28 Oct. 2025
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Saudi Arabia opens its flagship business conference today at a moment of optimism, even as the kingdom faces major macroeconomic challenges.—
Prashant Rao,
semafor.com,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Minister Kabawat is a member of the Christian minority and a longtime member of the opposition to the former dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad that was defeated by Al-Shara in late 2024.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
27 Oct. 2025
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After the fall of Hungary’s Communist dictatorship, dozens of decommissioned monuments were sent to Budapest’s Memento Park, including the boots from an enormous statue of Stalin, which had been torn down by irate crowds.—
Julian Lucas,
New Yorker,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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By September, the Soviets had lost not only all the territorial gains of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, including the Baltic states, Moldavia, and western parts of Ukraine and Belarus, but also the capitals of those two republics, first Minsk and then Kyiv.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
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For a night out, pair it with Dôen’s romantic paisley dress, cinch the waist with Banana republic’s knotted belt, then finish with Alaïa’s Le Click bag.—
Minty Mellon,
Vogue,
17 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Theocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/theocracy. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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