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
People, third and fourth generation Minnesotans were talking about tyranny.
—
NBC news, 1 Feb. 2026
Nazi Germany did not collapse into tyranny at all.
—Larry Pino, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Feb. 2026
History does not record many cases in which a power-mad leader careening toward tyranny suddenly regained his senses and became more moderate.
—David Brooks, Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2026
Who viewed guidance as tyranny.
—Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
NBC news, 1 Feb. 2026
Nazi Germany did not collapse into tyranny at all.
—Larry Pino, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Feb. 2026
History does not record many cases in which a power-mad leader careening toward tyranny suddenly regained his senses and became more moderate.
—David Brooks, Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2026
Who viewed guidance as tyranny.
—Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
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And perhaps most important, by empowering Congress, not the president, to remedy deficient state electoral schemes, the Constitution prevents presidents from rewriting the election code by executive fiat and thus provides an additional safeguard against military dictatorship.—
Jeffrey Rosen,
The Atlantic,
16 Feb. 2026
-
In this country, unlike in dictatorships, people expect to be able to identify law enforcement officers by sight and by badge number.—
William Robiner,
Twin Cities,
15 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Watching the tentacles of fascism spread like wildfire is hard.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Feb. 2026
-
But democratic fascism is no contradiction.—
Ben Bayer,
Oc Register,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
The Iranian regime is a theocratic autocracy controlled by religious figureheads and hardliners fully committed to the system that enriches and bestows power upon them today.—
Alexander Langlois,
Oc Register,
18 Feb. 2026
-
As the United States heads toward the midterm elections, there are growing concerns among some political scientists that the country has moved even further along the path to some form of autocracy.—
Frank Langfitt,
NPR,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
After Al Qaeda and then Saddam Hussein abruptly emerged as incarnations of a new totalitarianism, Michael Ignatieff and Niall Ferguson, among many others, impatiently urged the United States to assume its imperial obligations and impose democracy, human rights, and free trade through war.—
Victor J. Blue,
Harpers Magazine,
23 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Negotiations divorced from accountability risk entrenching authoritarianism and teaching regimes that bloodshed is merely a prelude to diplomatic rehabilitation.—
Pegah Banihashemi,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Feb. 2026
-
Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa has found success in both scripted and documentary films, many of which explore the legacy of authoritarianism in Europe and its parallels with the present.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Social media, ideological sorting, and the emotional intensity of war encourage absolutism.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
15 Feb. 2026
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The Talmud teaches that Jerusalem was destroyed not only because of hatred, but because of sinat chinam, baseless hatred fueled by moral absolutism.—
Rabbi Bruce D. Forman,
Sun Sentinel,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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