as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
in times of crisis, when a nation's people are frightened, there are often calls for totalitarianism
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Recent Examples of totalitarianism
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.
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Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 27 Nov. 2024
Mann understood the appeal of totalitarianism early on.
—George Packer, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
In 1984, Apple released a TV ad suggesting that its new Macintosh would topple Orwellian totalitarianism.
—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
In an interview with Variety at the time of the film’s premiere at Cannes, Lawrence explained how the impetus for her involvement came from seeing news of Kabul’s fall and finding similarities to her own home country’s spiral towards totalitarianism.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for totalitarianism 
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 27 Nov. 2024
Mann understood the appeal of totalitarianism early on.
—George Packer, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
In 1984, Apple released a TV ad suggesting that its new Macintosh would topple Orwellian totalitarianism.
—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
In an interview with Variety at the time of the film’s premiere at Cannes, Lawrence explained how the impetus for her involvement came from seeing news of Kabul’s fall and finding similarities to her own home country’s spiral towards totalitarianism.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for totalitarianism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalitarianism
Noun
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Annotated Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language declared Americans free from the tyranny of British institutions and their vocabularies.JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 8 Jan. 2025
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Transferring that depth to television, particularly to predominantly Black characters in a Caribbean country, especially one as fabled as Jamaica, to confront the tyranny of homophobia while also sustaining a conversation with the U.K. about its tainted legacy of colonialism, is bold and visionary.Ronda Racha Penrice, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The goal is to understand the seduction of fascism, why so many people fell for Mussolini’s message then, and why so many are falling for a similar message today.Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Dec. 2024
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In character dialogue, Wolfenstein like Bronowski, links certainty with fascism.G Kirilloff, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
Noun
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His first movie in six years, Orphan follows a boy who discovers a dark secret about his origins in the ruins of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against the communist dictatorship.Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 1 Jan. 2025
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After all, the Carnation Revolution which overthrew four decades of Salazar’s right-wing dictatorship had happened only six years prior.Ana Leorne, SPIN, 31 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Totalitarianism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalitarianism. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.
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