as in oppressive
controlling the people of a country in a very strict way with complete power that cannot be opposed
A totalitarian state that did not even allow outsiders to visit.
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in authoritarian
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of totalitarian
Susan Shelley, Orange County Register, 22 Jan. 2025
The totalitarian regime of 1984 brings innovation to the erasure of history.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2025
Néstor T. Carbonell, National Review, 16 July 2021
And there’s another reason why totalitarians capable of horrific human rights violations are a real hosting nightmare.
—Sarah Todd, Quartz, 27 Dec. 2019
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
Adjective
Censorship and its totalitarian cousin, propaganda, combined to control the information that was generally available to the public under the Biden administration.
—Susan Shelley, Orange County Register, 22 Jan. 2025
The totalitarian regime of 1984 brings innovation to the erasure of history.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2025
Noun
But that would not address the fundamental goal of the protests: to end the totalitarian stranglehold that has subjected the Cubans to an unbearable serfdom.
—Néstor T. Carbonell, National Review, 16 July 2021
And there’s another reason why totalitarians capable of horrific human rights violations are a real hosting nightmare.
—Sarah Todd, Quartz, 27 Dec. 2019
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalitarian
Adjective
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The triangle was turned right-side-up to show that gay people were standing up to oppressive forces.—
Raja Krishnamoorthi,
Newsweek,
13 Mar. 2025
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My parents came here from Syria, carrying their stories of the oppressive regime there that made life unlivable.—
Armando Garcia,
ABC News,
11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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They are also seen as sharing a joint interest in diminishing the role of the U.S. and other liberal democracies in determining world events in favor of their own highly authoritarian systems.—
Christopher Bodeen,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Mar. 2025
-
In this way, democratic parenting is markedly different from both permissive parenting and authoritarian parenting.—
Miranda Rake,
Parents,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The cover of the first issue of The New Yorker, dated Feb. 21, 1925, carried no portraits of potentates or tycoons, no headlines, no come-ons.—
Christopher B. Daly,
The Conversation,
11 Feb. 2025
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Or were all those billionaire potentates in the Capitol Rotunda — seated in front of Trump’s Cabinet picks — asserting their social, economic and cultural hegemony?—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN,
16 Mar. 2025
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As Carol continues her search for Daryl stateside, the scraggly drifter finds himself on the wrong side of French autocrats while protecting a young boy (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) and a nun (Clémence Poésy), who are trying to flee a religious cult that believes the young man is their messiah.—
Declan Gallagher,
EW.com,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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He was deployed to Panama as a part of Operation Just Cause, a U.S. mission that ended with the surrender of the Central American country's dictator, Gen. Manuel Noriega.—
Ashley Hume,
Fox News,
14 Mar. 2025
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As Catholic journalist and historian Emilio Mignone has documented, would-be dictators General Jorge Rafael Videla and Admiral Emilio Massera met with church leaders the night before their March 1976 coup and on the day itself, receiving guarantees of support.—
Federico Perelmuter,
The Dial,
13 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Laws, amendments, and constitutions have never mattered to tyrants, particularly those tyrants forced with making and enforcing laws, amendments, and constitutions.—
Chadd Scott,
Forbes,
7 Mar. 2025
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That’s classically how a demagogue works and how a demagogue becomes a tyrant.—
Sean Illing,
Vox,
22 Feb. 2025
Articles Related to totalitarian
Cite this Entry
“Totalitarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalitarian. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.
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