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.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in authoritarian
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of totalitarian
Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
The world has become a series of separate totalitarian quarantine zones and independent settlements, with a thriving black market and a rebel militia known as the Fireflies making life complicated for the survivors.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 7 Jan. 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
This seems like a smart, more nuanced take on history than the Civilization series has typically offered — less deterministic and one that emphasizes the cross-pollination of societies rather than raw totalitarian might.
—Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
The world has become a series of separate totalitarian quarantine zones and independent settlements, with a thriving black market and a rebel militia known as the Fireflies making life complicated for the survivors.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 7 Jan. 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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Currently, asylum seekers who committed crimes seen as political in nature—i.e. toward an oppressive regime—could be granted asylum, as could those guilty of misdemeanors.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
14 Feb. 2025
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But the show pulls back just enough on the oppressive horror vibes of Season Two without losing a perpetual sense of unease from those scenes.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Serbia’s authoritarian leader should be riding high, lifted by economic growth that is four times the European average, falling unemployment and steadily rising wages.—
Andrew Higgins,
New York Times,
8 Feb. 2025
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Trump’s decision will force many civil-society organizations in Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and other Latin American authoritarian countries to shut down or drastically reduce their operations, leaders of some of these groups told me.—
Andres Oppenheimer,
Miami Herald,
7 Feb. 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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Behind the scenes, the interviews showed, those tensions flared directly between Mr. Aliyev and Mr. Putin, even though the two autocrats have often found common ground.—
Anton Troianovski,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2025
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Throughout history, the biggest threat to autocrats usually came from their own subordinates.—
Yuval Noah Harari,
WIRED,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
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When the Syrian Assad regime was toppled, many outside Syria assumed Christians were aligned with the dictator.—
Anders Fogh Rasmussen,
Newsweek,
4 Feb. 2025
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Having been tapped by President Trump, very soon Rep. Elise Stefanik will step away from her upstate congressional district and make a fine ambassador to the United Nations, taking on the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, North Koreans and various other dictators and tyrants on the East Side.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
3 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Having been tapped by President Trump, very soon Rep. Elise Stefanik will step away from her upstate congressional district and make a fine ambassador to the United Nations, taking on the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, North Koreans and various other dictators and tyrants on the East Side.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
3 Feb. 2025
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Once upon a time, his wealthy father, the eponymous Pedro Páramo (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) ruled these parts like a tyrant.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Totalitarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalitarian. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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