as in dictatorship
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a popular uprising replaced that nation's tyranny with freedom and democracy
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tyranny
One of our highest priorities in this darkness must be to protect the people who are doing the most right now to push back against Trump’s tyranny: our judiciary.
—
Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 3 June 2025
Iraqi writer/director Hasan Hadi finds a most unusual way into the story of Saddam Hussein, who served as president of his country until the U.S. invasion in 2003 overthrew his reign, which was marked by terror and tyranny.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 15 May 2025
In Serra’s work, nothing claims to be site-specific, and nothing claims to be seen, shown, or commemorated—these are the actual conditions of object experience in a social and economic order ruled by the dual tyranny of compulsive consumption and spectacle.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
Opposition to tyranny lies at the heart of every freedom movement.
—Daniel Twining, National Review, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 3 June 2025
Iraqi writer/director Hasan Hadi finds a most unusual way into the story of Saddam Hussein, who served as president of his country until the U.S. invasion in 2003 overthrew his reign, which was marked by terror and tyranny.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 15 May 2025
In Serra’s work, nothing claims to be site-specific, and nothing claims to be seen, shown, or commemorated—these are the actual conditions of object experience in a social and economic order ruled by the dual tyranny of compulsive consumption and spectacle.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
Opposition to tyranny lies at the heart of every freedom movement.
—Daniel Twining, National Review, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
-
Newsom is a potential Democratic Party presidential nominee in 2028. Democrats, partisan media and other critics of Trump are raising the spectre of diversion of our military from their proper constitutional roles, and even possible military dictatorship.—
Arthur Cyr,
Chicago Tribune,
18 June 2025
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This brings me back to the conclusion that the Venezuelan dictatorship — perhaps Latin America’s biggest potential winner of a global oil price hike — along with Colombia and Mexico may get, at best, a brief respite if the Iran war disrupts world oil shipping lanes.—
Andres Oppenheimer,
Miami Herald,
18 June 2025
Noun
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Baker reaches from Virginia’s slaveholding history to the poet Ezra Pound’s deluded post–World War II fascism to the misogynistic trolls of Gamergate in her quest to understand Unite the Right.—
Book Marks
June 20,
Literary Hub,
20 June 2025
-
Seen as a metaphor for fascism, authoritarian threats and other abuses of power, the script has experienced a resurgence recently.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
18 June 2025
Noun
-
Now American culture bows down to Anna Wintour’s despotism.—
Armond White,
National Review,
9 May 2025
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The necessity of power sharing also meant that Congress could provide a check against despotism even if the same party held the Presidency and a majority in both houses.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
31 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
These distinctions also reveal shifts in the same autocracy over time.—
ELIZABETH N. SAUNDERS,
Foreign Affairs,
16 June 2025
-
The world is lurching toward autocracy, with alarming speed.—
Elisa Manfredini,
Time,
14 June 2025
Noun
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Mao had also fully grasped the natural suitability of photographic and filmic media for the broadcasting and cognitive technologies of totalitarianism.—
Nan Z. Da
June 10,
Literary Hub,
10 June 2025
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Hannah Arendt and the Fight for the Truth (Public Books) by John Plotz Hannah Arendt famously wrote about totalitarianism.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
27 May 2025
Noun
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Its champions gradually came to reinterpret the end of licensing as a natural consequence of the Revolution of 1688—part of the progression from tyrannical absolutism to parliamentary monarchy.—
Fara Dabhoiwala,
Harpers Magazine,
4 June 2025
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Women, regardless of hue, were excluded from the ballot with monastic absolutism.—
Jack Hill,
Baltimore Sun,
17 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 29 Jun. 2025.
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