as in dictatorship
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a popular uprising replaced that nation's tyranny with freedom and democracy
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tyranny
The last was King Charles I, who was tried and executed in 1649 for high treason and tyranny.
—
Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 19 Feb. 2026
Majority rule unconstrained by the rights of individuals is majority tyranny.
—Ben Bayer, Oc Register, 16 Feb. 2026
Williams’s novel is concerned with time’s tyranny.
—Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Bashar al-Assad, who oversaw the torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of his fellow Syrians during a quarter century in power, may have achieved something new in the annals of tyranny.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 6 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 19 Feb. 2026
Majority rule unconstrained by the rights of individuals is majority tyranny.
—Ben Bayer, Oc Register, 16 Feb. 2026
Williams’s novel is concerned with time’s tyranny.
—Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Bashar al-Assad, who oversaw the torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of his fellow Syrians during a quarter century in power, may have achieved something new in the annals of tyranny.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 6 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
-
Its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, established a religious dictatorship that subjugates the Iranian people under sharia law, while zealously exporting its dogma by force.—
Elan Journo,
Oc Register,
10 Mar. 2026
-
Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz’s ‘Another League’ chronicles the defiant birth of women’s soccer in the waning years of Francisco Franco’s arcane dictatorship in early 1970s Spain – today the reigning world champions after winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.—
Ed Meza,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Here as elsewhere, Schmitt’s rejection of the separation of powers, and the experience of fascism under Hitler, offer the right warnings.—
Cass Sunstein,
Big Think,
5 Mar. 2026
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But this is a new world, and the ascendance of fascism can really pave the way for a product launch!—
Sarah Jeong,
The Verge,
1 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The hope is that the institutional reforms started by the interim administration of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus deliver the necessary checks and balances to avert another lurch toward despotism.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
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The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
After all, the series largely avoids other topical issues of modern campus life, from freedom of speech restrictions to administrators kowtowing to autocracies.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
5 Mar. 2026
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Do these pictures stealthily undermine that brand of autocracy because Foto Estudio Luisita was a feminist enterprise where women made images of women?—
Bryan Barcena,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Hate, division, and authoritarianism aren’t new enemies.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Mar. 2026
-
For over three decades, Khamenei subjected Iranians to severe authoritarianism and repression, culminating in him ordering the security forces to shoot and kill thousands of Iranians during the protests in January 2026, not to mention those in previous years.—
Eric Lob,
The Conversation,
2 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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