despotic

adjective

des·​pot·​ic de-ˈspä-tik How to pronounce despotic (audio)
di-
: of, relating to, or characteristic of a despot
a despotic government
despotically adverb

Examples of despotic in a Sentence

a nation ruled by a series of despotic rulers, each seemingly worse than the last the despotic coach demands that his players obey him without question
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
In just a few days last week, the loose coalition of resistance fighters ended a cruel tyrannical dynastic rein in Syria as Russia and Iran were too distracted to bring air cover to their ally, the despotic President al-Assad. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, TIME, 10 Dec. 2024 Yet over the weekend, suddenly, and to much of the world's surprise, the despotic regime of the al-Assad family fell and Assad himself, with his wife and children, escaped to Moscow, where he was granted political asylum. Hannah Parry, Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2024 The sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s despotic regime in Syria this weekend highlights the interconnectedness of a growing number of global conflicts, revealing a hard truth that most of us would rather not think about too deeply: World War III has already begun. Bryce Hoffman, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024 Last week’s attacks are the latest wave of resistance to Assad’s despotic rule, a civil war that began in 2011 and quickly descended into a proxy war, eventually leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 3 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for despotic 

Word History

Etymology

see despot

First Known Use

1604, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of despotic was in 1604

Dictionary Entries Near despotic

Cite this Entry

“Despotic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/despotic. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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