variants
also autocratical
1
as in oppressive
exercising power or authority without interference by others
democracy is supposed to protect the people against the rise of autocratic rulers
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in authoritarian
fond of ordering people around
an autocratic Boy Scout leader who is under the delusion that he's still an army colonel
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of autocratic
Venezuela’s autocratic demagogue held a 2007 referendum to re-write the Constitution.
—
Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2025
Some see the speculation over a third term as part of an ominous, autocratic push by the president.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 31 Mar. 2025
But today, the most important political cleft is not the fading distinction between right and left, but the rising conflict between liberal and illiberal, democratic and autocratic.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2025
That episode aired when Vladimir Putin began his rise to autocratic power in Russia.
—Andreas Kluth, The Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for autocratic
Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2025
Some see the speculation over a third term as part of an ominous, autocratic push by the president.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 31 Mar. 2025
But today, the most important political cleft is not the fading distinction between right and left, but the rising conflict between liberal and illiberal, democratic and autocratic.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2025
That episode aired when Vladimir Putin began his rise to autocratic power in Russia.
—Andreas Kluth, The Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for autocratic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autocratic
Adjective
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The Collector is also hoping these will satiate the growing wants of his oppressive overlord, The Forger (Roddy Ricch), who has mysterious motives of his own.—
Courtney Howard,
Variety,
17 Apr. 2025
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Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone.—
Katie Campione,
Deadline,
14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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His parents were Italian immigrants who fled Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime, and his grandmother Rosa Margherita Vassallo di Bergoglio was active in Catholic Action, formed by Italian bishops who wanted to maintain their independence from Mussolini’s authoritarian rule.—
Olivia B. Waxman,
Time,
21 Apr. 2025
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Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been called an authoritarian, and previous reports have noted restrictions to civil liberties.—
Graham Smith,
NPR,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Also amusing is Fiona Glascott as Lady Violet, an old acquaintance of Sherlock’s who specializes officially in schooling young ladies like Clara to join British high society and unofficially in casting her imperious judgment everywhere.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Apr. 2025
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As Kimberly Shaw, a mild-mannered resident doctor of Wilshire Memorial Hospital, Cross shared plenty of scenes with Wagner, who shows up in the third season as Peter Burns, the hospital's imperious chief of staff.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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It was first created in 1942 specifically to serve as a foil to Axis disinformation and over the years became a beacon of hope to people living under all manner of totalitarian and despotic governments.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
18 Mar. 2025
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The notion that these companies were sovereign enclaves of pitilessly despotic geniuses is a myth of recent vintage.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
The New Yorker,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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That doesn’t portray a hero, but rather someone so arrogant as to invent his own law and appoint himself its executioner.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
11 Apr. 2025
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Maybe so, but that’s an arrogant thing for such a young killer to say.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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And what can today’s resistance movements facing tyrannical regimes learn from their success?—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
20 Apr. 2025
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Howard plays himself as a tyrannical auteur who petulantly refuses to cut a vacuous scene from his overlong thriller, warding off pleas only to change his mind at the moment of truth.—
Peter Bart,
Deadline,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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In this authoritative, elegant biography, Daut meticulously combs the torrents of contemporary letters and broadsheets to draw a complex, contradictory portrait of Christophe, also known as King Henry.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Apr. 2025
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The distant therapist Not too long ago, therapists acted like black boxes and authoritative gods.—
David E. Tolchinsky,
The Conversation,
17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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El Salvador President Nayib Bukele may have found the best description for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s new approach to dictatorial regimes: a laughing emoji.—
Mary Ellen Klas,
Mercury News,
12 Apr. 2025
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In late March, Ahmad al-Shara, Syria’s new leader, introduced a caretaker government that would supervise the country’s transition from five decades of dictatorial rule.—
Jerome Drevon,
Foreign Affairs,
11 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Autocratic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autocratic. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.
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