variants
also tyrannic
1
as in oppressive
exercising power or authority without interference by others
a tyrannical ruler whose terrible reign was marked by unceasing violence
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in domineering
fond of ordering people around
even when he was still a toddler, he tended to be a tyrannical playmate
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tyrannical
King Saran Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) will portray the tyrannical king who is also Amari and Inan's father.
—
EW.com, 22 Jan. 2025
Despite these achievements, many scholars believe the king deserves his tyrannical reputation.
—Ellen Wexler, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Jan. 2025
More important, in much of the country, the federal government was seen as ineffective and corrupt, or even tyrannical.
—Margaret MacMillan, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
Cortland sawing off his own arm and serving it to his tyrannical father — that’s pretty straightforward.
—Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyrannical
EW.com, 22 Jan. 2025
Despite these achievements, many scholars believe the king deserves his tyrannical reputation.
—Ellen Wexler, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Jan. 2025
More important, in much of the country, the federal government was seen as ineffective and corrupt, or even tyrannical.
—Margaret MacMillan, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
Cortland sawing off his own arm and serving it to his tyrannical father — that’s pretty straightforward.
—Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyrannical
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyrannical
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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Here's Your Zodiac Love Compatibility, Based on Your Sign Sagittarius: Rachel Chu from Crazy Rich Asians To maintain her relationship, Rachel takes on a fight with her boyfriend’s domineering mother Eleanor.—
Lisa Stardust,
People.com,
13 Feb. 2025
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He’s had something of a habit of playing domineering fathers, doing so on Ugly Betty (2006–2007) and as Charles Widmore on Lost (2006–2010).—
Sezin Devi Koehler,
EW.com,
8 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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And as the United States veered away from longstanding alliances with European democracies and toward a brutal authoritarian regime, U.S. Pres.—
David Axe,
Forbes,
19 Feb. 2025
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Twice in five days this White House has dubbed European democratic leaders tyrants, falsely, while declining to mention the Kremlin’s authoritarian record in the same speech.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Her 36-piece against Duke earlier this month was masterful.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
The Athletic,
23 Feb. 2025
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Although his counting stats faded in 2024, Sims was still masterful at limiting weak contact with his sweeper-heavy repertoire.—
Newsweek,
Newsweek,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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European leaders are aghast at America’s autocratic lurch.—
David Axe,
Forbes,
24 Feb. 2025
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Image The years since, through the first Trump presidency, the Jan. 6 riot, the impeachments and autocratic rhetoric, have not appreciably changed Michaels’s approach to political sketches.—
Maureen Dowd,
New York Times,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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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
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Most humans who have ever lived have done so under despotic regimes.—
Stephen D. Krasner,
Foreign Affairs,
10 Feb. 2020
Adjective
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Anyone who’s ever thrown a pitch or swung a bat knows that the umpire decides in the end — and those decisions have felt arbitrary and highly personal at times.—
Keith O'Brien,
Rolling Stone,
23 Feb. 2025
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Misinformation surrounding the new law has led to a resurgence of the narrative that white South Africans—especially farmers—are facing an orchestrated campaign of genocide through arbitrary land grabs.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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This concentration of authority is a legacy of decades of dictatorial rule before South Korea’s transition to democracy in 1987.—
ROBERT E. KELLY,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Feb. 2025
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Though Yoon rescinded the decree after just six hours, the martial law imposition was the first of its kind in South Korea in more than 40 years and evoked painful memories of past dictatorial rules in the 1960s-80s.—
Danielle Wallace,
Fox News,
26 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tyrannical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyrannical. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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