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
And who doesn't, once in a while, need to be freed from the tyranny of certainty?
—
Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 19 Sep. 2025
The authoritarian anarcho-tyranny we are mired in today is the consequence of the Left's subversion.
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
Though officially prohibited, Western movies, music and television circulated widely as contraband and highlighted themes like resistance to tyranny and the moral superiority of the West.
—Ilan Berman, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
The novel is about parental tyranny … Bob is moving some furniture here.
—Stephen Galloway, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 19 Sep. 2025
The authoritarian anarcho-tyranny we are mired in today is the consequence of the Left's subversion.
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
Though officially prohibited, Western movies, music and television circulated widely as contraband and highlighted themes like resistance to tyranny and the moral superiority of the West.
—Ilan Berman, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
The novel is about parental tyranny … Bob is moving some furniture here.
—Stephen Galloway, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
-
The movie, set largely in 1977 during the Brazilian military dictatorship, ends on a strange and sad note.—
Morgan Baila,
Vulture,
30 Sep. 2025
-
Other Latin American countries that had suffered under military dictatorships vigorously prosecuted the perpetrators of human rights abuses, but Brazil did not follow suit.—
Omar G. Encarnación,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
No more communism, or fascism; no more theocracy, or monarchies.—
Richard Stengel,
Time,
1 Oct. 2025
-
This is the thing about fascism, right?—
Helen Molesworth,
Artforum,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The Bashar Assad regime’s collapse inspired a wave of optimism about despotism turning into democracy.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Aug. 2025
-
If not for our nation’s First Amendment, our country could quickly resemble a despotism where police forces attack reporters and quash news reports that diverge from the official view.—
The Editorial Board,
Oc Register,
15 July 2025
Noun
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The Biden administration completed the reversion to a Cold War frame, declaring a global divide between democracies and autocracies, with China and Russia reprising their roles as principal foes.—
JENNIFER KAVANAGH,
Foreign Affairs,
30 Sep. 2025
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Although realistic doomsday scenarios—nuclear war, global warming, autocracy—are stressful to contemplate, more fanciful apocalypses (an alien invasion, a robot uprising) can generate some enjoyable escapism.—
Adam Becker,
The Atlantic,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Eclectic traditionalism, remade on an elephantine scale, is the style of totalitarianism.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Soviet communism represented left-wing totalitarianism, while Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy represented right-wing totalitarianism.—
Mark Satta,
The Conversation,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
For Moura, the echoes of Brazil’s dictatorship and the dangers of authoritarianism repeating itself, fed directly into The Secret Agent.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Sep. 2025
-
Andor connected with critics and audiences in part because its revolutionaries make cogent arguments over and over about the insanity of authoritarianism.—
Eric Vilas-Boas,
Vulture,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
As Perez wrote, Musk’s free-speech absolutism was a fiction perpetuated by a pliant media.—
Jacob Silverman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Oct. 2025
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The idea that executive absolutism can be stopped by a single district judge is a romantic but inaccurate one.—
George Liebmann,
Baltimore Sun,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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