How to Use despotic in a Sentence

despotic

adjective
  • The rule of law would descend into the rule of despotic man.
    Adam M. Carrington, National Review, 5 Apr. 2022
  • There’s a certain irony to the World Cup falling into the hands of a despotic regime.
    Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 29 Dec. 2022
  • In the World war, Americans dared to stand upon the side of those who raised the shield against despotic forces.
    Editorial Board, Star Tribune, 30 May 2021
  • Venezuela and Nicaragua remain under the grip of despotic regimes.
    Otto Reich, National Review, 8 Apr. 2020
  • Even North Korea, by many assessments the world’s most thuggish and despotic regime, tried to seize the moral high ground.
    The Economist, 8 June 2020
  • Szell was known for being demanding, to the point of being despotic.
    Michael Cooper, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2019
  • Orïsha used to be steeped in magic, but a despotic king ripped magic from the land and slaughtered the magic users, or maji.
    Constance Grady, Vox, 30 Mar. 2018
  • No country had more to gain than Libya, which had endured four decades of despotic rule by Moammar Gaddafi.
    Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2021
  • The despotic Kaiser’s reign has produced a land where life and death are equally meaningless.
    Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 20 Jan. 2021
  • If Covid had been a giant upender of life’s order, this new regime of fear was even more despotic.
    Han Ong, The New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2023
  • What all parties can at least celebrate is that Trump looks less and less like a despotic madman.
    T.a. Frank, The Hive, 27 Apr. 2017
  • Like the despotic Kims, Cuba’s regime keeps its citizens poor and unfree.
    The Economist, 18 Apr. 2018
  • What primarily shook the island, and caught its despotic rulers off guard, was Cubans’ hunger for freedom.
    Néstor T. Carbonell, National Review, 16 July 2021
  • Trump has acted in ways that were despotic and authoritarian at times, but this takes the cake.
    Ashley Pratte Oates, CNN, 5 Dec. 2022
  • By firing Comey, the president told us all that his despotic training wheels are coming off.
    Jamil Smith, Esquire, 12 May 2017
  • The Brothers Karamazov tells the story of three brothers and their father, a despotic, greedy and lecherous man.
    Dallas News, 3 Mar. 2022
  • The rest of the world has also discovered—at last!—his despotic, corrupt, and inept character.
    Moisés Naím, The Atlantic, 25 May 2017
  • In the lab, though, the highest ranking males form particularly despotic regimes.
    Byemily Underwood, science.org, 27 Jan. 2023
  • When policing and biting were present, a despotic hierarchy emerged — a single ant on top, with all other ants sharing the same rank.
    Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 27 May 2016
  • And Jepperd, who once worked as a hunter for a despotic militia, is desperate to rescue Gus (and his fellow hybrid kids) from his former boss.
    Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2023
  • The despotic regime whose malign indifference killed so many and cost so much cannot be allowed to pretend that nothing happened.
    Matthew Continetti, National Review, 12 June 2021
  • If the fighting went on, Ukrainian soldiers would die; if the fighting ceased, Ukrainian citizens would be trapped under a vicious and despotic regime.
    Keith Gessen, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2023
  • And no one understands that better than our stellar staff, many who have come to the United States fleeing the oppression of despotic governments.
    Luis F. Sanchez, miamiherald, 2 June 2017
  • What’s the latest news from the wild intersection of international sports and despotic regimes?
    Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 10 June 2022
  • Nothing matters more right now to the peace of the world and the security of the U.S. than crippling Mr. Putin’s drive to rebuild an aggressive and despotic empire by waging a criminal war.
    Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 17 Mar. 2022
  • The Brothers Karamazov centers on three brothers and their father, a despotic, greedy and lecherous man.
    Dallas News, 17 Feb. 2022
  • How did Sudan go from casting off despotic rule and creating a fledgling democracy a few years ago to teetering on the brink of state collapse?
    Justin Lynch, CNN, 17 Apr. 2023
  • Generally the more despotic the system, the more wealth inequality exists, Prufer added.
    NBC News, 25 Mar. 2021
  • Following the origin story of Coriolanus Snow, the despotic leader of Panem, the new film—which premiered November 17—promises danger, drama, and an alternate universe to look toward for inspiration.
    Abby Wilson, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Nov. 2023
  • In the late eighteenth century, liberal thinkers worried about the despotic state and religious and revolutionary fanaticism and sought freedom through constitutions and bills of rights.
    Alan S. Kahan, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'despotic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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