as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
warned that forfeiture of civil liberties for the sake of security would only result in the terror of totalism
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Recent Examples of totalism
Common sense and a mania for systematization, logical thinking and ideological totalism, are constantly at war in the French character, as a belief in instant happiness and a paranoia about imaginary enemies are in the American.
—
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalism
Noun
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Cutié, 56, knows about the tyranny many Cubans have lived under.—
Michael Butler,
Miami Herald,
14 Mar. 2026
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Was her exclusion from the political world not its own kind of tyranny?—
Moira Donegan,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In Germany, the generation who educate the next generation, this is totally destroyed because of the fascism between ‘33 and ‘45.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
19 Mar. 2026
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The dark joke on both sides of the record is that fascism wasn’t defeated in World War II, only domesticated.—
Andrew Katzenstein,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Thousands marched through Buenos Aires on Tuesday to mark 50 years since the 1976 military coup that ushered in one of Latin America’s bloodiest dictatorships.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
24 Mar. 2026
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Unlike more cohesive dictatorships, Iran’s youth, middle class and ethnic minorities — Persians number less than 50% in a nation with seven major ethnic groups — are primed to rise once air power shatters the mullahs’ control.—
Chuck DeVore,
Twin Cities,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Jury President Wim Wenders praised the film for its portrait of life under totalitarianism saying the story would chime with and serve as a wakeup call for people all over the world.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
21 Feb. 2026
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His loathing for totalitarianism was among the very few hatreds Reagan ever held, his biographer Edmund Morris said.—
Peter Wehner,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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So the same establishment that had once helped push a Qajar shah toward constitutionalism helped pull a Pahlavi shah back from exile and back into absolutism.—
Bobby Ghosh,
Time,
5 Mar. 2026
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Social media, ideological sorting, and the emotional intensity of war encourage absolutism.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
15 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The protesters from across the Czech Republic attended the peaceful demonstration Saturday at Letna Park, the scene of huge gatherings in 1989 during the Velvet Revolution that ushered in democracy after decades of communist authoritarianism.—
Karel Janicek,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Mar. 2026
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When seen like that, as a sequence of facts, the logic of authoritarianism becomes clear.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Totalism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalism. Accessed 27 Mar. 2026.
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