as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
concerning absolutism Lord Acton famously observed that "absolute power corrupts absolutely"
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Recent Examples of absolutism
The result, in 1906, was the movement known as the Constitutional Revolution, which established a parliamentary system and brought about a short pause in Iran’s long history of absolutism.
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Amir A. Afkhami, Foreign Affairs, 2 Mar. 2020
This moral absolutism is antithetical to the university’s goal of advancing knowledge and critical inquiry.
—Jeffrey Koseff, Washington Post, 8 July 2024
Indeed, the century that followed Hobbes, the heyday of Enlightenment philosophy and science, is often known as the era of enlightened absolutism.
—John M. Owen Iv, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2015
Yet Republicans have often ignored those calls as Second Amendment absolutism has spread, anchored by key Supreme Court decisions.
—Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for absolutism 
Amir A. Afkhami, Foreign Affairs, 2 Mar. 2020
This moral absolutism is antithetical to the university’s goal of advancing knowledge and critical inquiry.
—Jeffrey Koseff, Washington Post, 8 July 2024
Indeed, the century that followed Hobbes, the heyday of Enlightenment philosophy and science, is often known as the era of enlightened absolutism.
—John M. Owen Iv, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2015
Yet Republicans have often ignored those calls as Second Amendment absolutism has spread, anchored by key Supreme Court decisions.
—Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for absolutism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for absolutism
Noun
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The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers.Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2024
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The show is airing at a time when a lot of people are thinking about tyranny in a very concrete way.Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge, 4 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Older generations lived under the violent military dictatorships of the nineteen-sixties, seventies, and eighties, and young people are aware of this legacy.E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2024
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Of 5,000 people held at the school during the dictatorship, fewer than 250 survived.Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Under rules designed to prevent the instability that facilitated the rise of fascism in the 1930s, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can only dissolve parliament and call an election if the chancellor calls, and loses, a confidence vote.Fox News, Fox News, 16 Dec. 2024
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Years later, in 2016, Viren sets out to write a book that treats that period in her life as an allegory for the rise of fascism in the United States.Tajja Isen, The Atlantic, 11 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The similarities among these places are real, because Russia, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and, until now, Syria all belong to an informal network of autocracies.Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2024
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Assad may melt away into exile in a lavish row of Moscow dachas, and his hollow autocracy may crumble fast.Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 7 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Although Adolf Hitler met his road to perdition, Joseph Stalin survived and extended his despotism.Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 14 Mar. 2024
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His thug military’s attacks — and those of his thug street enforcers known as colectivos — on Venezuelans who’ve taken to the streets to protest his Gómez-ish despotism?Tim Padgett, Orlando Sentinel, 9 Aug. 2024
Noun
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Rasoulof has talked about purposefully making his films less allegorical as his career has progressed, preferring to present his stories about oppression and totalitarianism plainly, so that his resentments are indisputable.Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 27 Nov. 2024
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Mann understood the appeal of totalitarianism early on.George Packer, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Absolutism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/absolutism. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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