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 new Constitution’s supporters, known as Federalists, faced fierce opposition from Anti-Federalists who charged that a powerful national government, unrestrained by a bill of rights, would inevitably lead to tyranny.
—
Donald Nieman, The Conversation, 7 Oct. 2025
Males that tried to rule by asserting their dominance through violence, tyranny and threat did not last.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2025
Christian is annoyed by Max’s temporary tyranny and overall seems … normal.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
When human decency and basic civility fall victim to partisanship and ideology, and abhorrence of violence becomes tempered by political aims, monstrosities and tyrannies become possible.
—Michael Bloomberg, Twin Cities, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Donald Nieman, The Conversation, 7 Oct. 2025
Males that tried to rule by asserting their dominance through violence, tyranny and threat did not last.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2025
Christian is annoyed by Max’s temporary tyranny and overall seems … normal.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
When human decency and basic civility fall victim to partisanship and ideology, and abhorrence of violence becomes tempered by political aims, monstrosities and tyrannies become possible.
—Michael Bloomberg, Twin Cities, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
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Made as Brazil’s dictatorship was losing its grip, these films confronted repression indirectly, turning sensuality into an act of defiance.—
Lise Pedersen,
Variety,
12 Oct. 2025
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As the series continues, the twins find their parents, grow up, fall in love and fight dictatorship.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
12 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Thomas Pynchon has been warning us about American fascism the whole time.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Oct. 2025
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His latest novel in English, , unfolds in a single sentence and reflects anxieties about rising fascism in Europe.—
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In recent months, as despotism intensified an increasing number of writers, scholars, and thinkers were declared foreign agents, and their books were taken off the shelves.—
Nina Khrushcheva,
Time,
3 Oct. 2025
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The Bashar Assad regime’s collapse inspired a wave of optimism about despotism turning into democracy.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
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This is a democracy versus autocracy issue.—
Andrea Hsu,
NPR,
7 Oct. 2025
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Yet the film’s timeliness is still a tonic, given that the spirit of autocracy looks more and more like a virus that now wants to take over the world.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Except for a few shots of China’s President Xi presiding over a military parade, the film’s image of totalitarianism leans far more toward right-wing regimes; to leave out Mao, or Castro, feels like a mistake.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
3 Oct. 2025
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Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four (also stylized as 1984) was published in 1949, and served as a stark warning about the dangers of totalitarianism.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
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And Trump should not be surprised when millions of Americans stand up to his authoritarianism and his greed.—
Deputy News Editor,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Oct. 2025
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All this assumes that America and the West do not backslide into their own versions of authoritarianism.—
Peter Leyden,
Big Think,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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 History of a Dangerous Idea, Dabhoiwala sees First Amendment absolutism in the practices of Facebook and its ilk.—
Kwame Anthony Appiah,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
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