as in oppressive
controlling the people of a country in a very strict way with complete power that cannot be opposed
A totalitarian state that did not even allow outsiders to visit.
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as in authoritarian
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of totalitarian
Sarah Todd, Quartz, 27 Dec. 2019
Some of his most popular works were surrealistic fantasies set in grisly worlds run by totalitarians and conformists.
—Fox News, 28 June 2018
Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
Peck uses Orwell’s own words (voiced by the actor Damian Lewis) to illustrate how the author’s vision of a totalitarian future, as articulated in his seminal novel 1984, can be glimpsed around the world.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
Adjective
And there’s another reason why totalitarians capable of horrific human rights violations are a real hosting nightmare.
—Sarah Todd, Quartz, 27 Dec. 2019
Some of his most popular works were surrealistic fantasies set in grisly worlds run by totalitarians and conformists.
—Fox News, 28 June 2018
Noun
Failed totalitarian regimes tend to give way not to democracies but to mafia states.
—Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
Peck uses Orwell’s own words (voiced by the actor Damian Lewis) to illustrate how the author’s vision of a totalitarian future, as articulated in his seminal novel 1984, can be glimpsed around the world.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalitarian
Adjective
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Global organization Human Rights Watch accused the festival of diverting attention away from allegations of the government’s severe repression of free speech and criticized comedians for performing on the behest of an oppressive regime.—
Anthony Robledo,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
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The oppressive rule has led to nations cutting off aid, leading to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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That is why censorship is the authoritarian's dream.—
Robert Birsel
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Sep. 2025
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Trump isn't responsible for such long-term trends as Beijing's determination to rival the United States in global influence, or Putin's evolution to an entrenched authoritarian with expansionist ambitions.—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Why don’t all the rich potentates, sheiks, oligarchs and MAGA dictators meet and fix it?—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
25 June 2025
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With the pandemic, the year-round population of a once-seasonal resort town swelled with Manhattan refugees, those in the Trump orbit, and tech and finance potentates, many of them serious collectors like Ken Griffin and Steve Ross.—
Ben Widdicombe,
Vulture,
12 May 2025
Noun
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The Bulldozer Revolution that ousted Milošević was comprised of Serbs from a wide range of backgrounds, all determined to bring down an unpopular autocrat who put his own political survival above the needs of citizens.—
Hanna Begić,
The Conversation,
29 Sep. 2025
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Egyptian-British blogger and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah,rose to prominence as an impassioned voice in the Arab Spring uprising that toppled Egypt's veteran autocrat and has since become a symbol of the struggle for human rights in his country.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The author understood how power works, and the lengths that people, classes, political parties and dictators would go to keep it.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
2 Oct. 2025
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Declaring war on our nation’s cities and using our troops as political pawns is what dictators do.—
Brian Bennett,
Time,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The light historical touch is no doubt necessary for a series trying to sell its viewers on a love story between a modern protagonist and a character originally based on a real-life historical tyrant.—
Kayti Burt,
Time,
29 Sep. 2025
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Reynolds is a tetchy tyrant, who, enabled by his sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), has embraced a need to have things just so as a means of warding off vulnerability.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Totalitarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalitarian. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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