variants also tyrannic
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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tyrannical And what can today’s resistance movements facing tyrannical regimes learn from their success? John Blake, CNN Money, 20 Apr. 2025 Howard plays himself as a tyrannical auteur who petulantly refuses to cut a vacuous scene from his overlong thriller, warding off pleas only to change his mind at the moment of truth. Peter Bart, Deadline, 10 Apr. 2025 Leaders who take this approach have a tyrannical, dictatorial style. Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2025 Now that’s someone who’ll shake up Alan Cumming’s tyrannical rule. Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tyrannical
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyrannical
Adjective
  • That this sincere notion dovetails with an itch to vacate her dour, oppressive home only adds to her determination.
    Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2025
  • To be sure, Florida had its attractions, one of which was the sunny weather, although air conditioning was still rare at the time, and the heat and humidity could be oppressive for much of the year.
    Greg Daugherty, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • The trial had revealed Blue Cross’ domineering behavior.
    T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, 12 Apr. 2025
  • As mild-mannered schoolteacher Mr. Lisbon, James Woods plays a quiet counterpoint to his domineering wife.
    Sezin Devi Koehler, EW.com, 21 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • From 2019 to 2020, the authoritarian petrostate paid $115,000 a month to now–Attorney General Pam Bondi and her firm to lobby on its behalf.
    Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 15 May 2025
  • The congressman sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, accusing him of prioritizing personal spectacle and showing admiration for authoritarian leaders.
    Heather Hunter, The Washington Examiner, 14 May 2025
Adjective
  • Elie’s masterful survey is a group portrait of artists and their fellow travelers who participated during a bloody crossroads in American life, when Ronald Reagan’s ascension to the White House in 1980 collapsed the walls between church and state, sparking a counterrevolution across the arts.
    Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2025
  • The series is being produced by Science Saru, which previously worked on anime series like Devilman Crybaby, Star Wars Visions, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and it's been praised by fans and critics alike for its stunning production values, touching storytelling, and masterful animation.
    Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 May 2025
Adjective
  • Venezuelans have been living under the autocratic regime of Nicolás Maduro for more than a decade amid runaway inflation, worsening poverty and widespread political persecution.
    Rebecca Morin, USA Today, 20 May 2025
  • In autocratic regimes, such as the one headed by the Kim family in North Korea, major construction projects like the Ryugyong Hotel serve the purpose of reinforcing the dictatorial government control.
    Ashley Gardini, JSTOR Daily, 13 May 2025
Adjective
  • Photo: Obscured Pictures Building the world of the film also meant drawing on all manner of cultural references—from the depths of the Vice News YouTube channel to an early ’00s documentary about American Apparel and its despotic CEO, Dov Charney, that Ulman sent to Simon Rex.
    Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 2 May 2025
  • In these ways, Trump’s despotic acts are indeed without precedent in American history.
    Patrick Eddington, Oc Register, 20 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • But Laxe’s cadence of death is nasty and arbitrary and delightful.
    Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2025
  • These bills would formalize what the Parole Board should already be doing and therefore limit arbitrary rejections.
    Julia Salazar, New York Daily News, 16 May 2025
Adjective
  • Compared with Russia’s dictatorial tsarist and communist eras and its chaotic decade after the Soviet Union fell, the country had never been so prosperous and so free at the same time.
    ALEXANDER GABUEV, Foreign Affairs, 17 Apr. 2025
  • Fortunately, the courts have so far blocked this dictatorial impulse.
    Steven Greenhut, Orange County Register, 16 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Tyrannical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyrannical. Accessed 25 May. 2025.

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