as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
in times of crisis, when a nation's people are frightened, there are often calls for totalitarianism
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Recent Examples of totalitarianism
Time’s Echo by Jeremy Eichler Using four studies from the Second World War era—Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Benjamin Britten—this book contends with how music memorializes catastrophes and deals with totalitarianism, which may feel a bit on the nose right now.
—
The New Yorker, 5 Mar. 2025
And this particular slide into totalitarianism is a rather recent development (which gives one hope that it could be reversed).
—Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2025
With the help of grants from Jewish groups, social psychologists, sociologists, and other scholars investigated how antisemitism was connected to totalitarianism, religion and other forms of racial and ethnic stereotyping.
—Asaf Elia-Shalev, Sun Sentinel, 9 Jan. 2025
This episode shows that—although China has never had a U.S.-style constitution—Beijing moved away from Maoist totalitarianism under Deng, thereby instilling a sense of security and confidence among Chinese entrepreneurs.
—Yasheng Huang, Foreign Affairs, 25 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for totalitarianism
The New Yorker, 5 Mar. 2025
And this particular slide into totalitarianism is a rather recent development (which gives one hope that it could be reversed).
—Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2025
With the help of grants from Jewish groups, social psychologists, sociologists, and other scholars investigated how antisemitism was connected to totalitarianism, religion and other forms of racial and ethnic stereotyping.
—Asaf Elia-Shalev, Sun Sentinel, 9 Jan. 2025
This episode shows that—although China has never had a U.S.-style constitution—Beijing moved away from Maoist totalitarianism under Deng, thereby instilling a sense of security and confidence among Chinese entrepreneurs.
—Yasheng Huang, Foreign Affairs, 25 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for totalitarianism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalitarianism
Noun
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Every other protection against tyranny and political oppression — that is, every aspect of a stable democratic system — suffers a possibly mortal blow if the basic tenets of an independent judiciary and the adversarial advocacy of lawyers are abandoned or lost.—
Michael Mcauliffe,
Sun Sentinel,
3 Apr. 2025
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Separated by 250 years, these two actions both supposedly raise the question: Just how much tyranny ...—
Rich Lowry,
National Review,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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No one wants to have their family vacation turned into some Kafkaesque nightmare at the hands of ICE agents emboldened by the country's general climate of incipient fascism.—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Apr. 2025
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With the show telling a cautionary tale about the perils of ignorance in the face of fascism, Peck cannot help but draw a direct parallel to our current political situation.—
Stephen Daw,
Billboard,
15 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In the benchmark survey, known as Bright Line Watch, U.S.-based professors rate the performance of American democracy on a scale from zero (complete dictatorship) to 100 (perfect democracy).—
Frank Langfitt,
NPR,
22 Apr. 2025
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In the late 1970s, Argentina was under the heel of a military dictatorship.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
21 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Totalitarianism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalitarianism. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
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