How to Use despotic in a Sentence

despotic

adjective
  • The rule of law would descend into the rule of despotic man.
    — Adam M. Carrington, National Review, 5 Apr. 2022
  • There’s a certain irony to the World Cup falling into the hands of a despotic regime.
    — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 29 Dec. 2022
  • In the World war, Americans dared to stand upon the side of those who raised the shield against despotic forces.
    — Editorial Board, Star Tribune, 30 May 2021
  • Venezuela and Nicaragua remain under the grip of despotic regimes.
    — Otto Reich, National Review, 8 Apr. 2020
  • How should Biden respond to the despotic rhetoric and actions of Trump and his allies?
    — Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2020
  • Tiberius, who is remembered as a despotic recluse, spent the last 10 years of his reign living on Capri.
    — Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 12 Feb. 2024
  • Even North Korea, by many assessments the world’s most thuggish and despotic regime, tried to seize the moral high ground.
    — The Economist, 8 June 2020
  • Szell was known for being demanding, to the point of being despotic.
    — Michael Cooper, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2019
  • The courts, Congress, state governments and the Bill of Rights have all worked in some measure to thwart Trump’s despotic designs.
    — Star Tribune, 5 Nov. 2020
  • Orïsha used to be steeped in magic, but a despotic king ripped magic from the land and slaughtered the magic users, or maji.
    — Constance Grady, Vox, 30 Mar. 2018
  • No country had more to gain than Libya, which had endured four decades of despotic rule by Moammar Gaddafi.
    — Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2021
  • The despotic Kaiser’s reign has produced a land where life and death are equally meaningless.
    — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 20 Jan. 2021
  • If Covid had been a giant upender of life’s order, this new regime of fear was even more despotic.
    — Han Ong, The New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2023
  • What all parties can at least celebrate is that Trump looks less and less like a despotic madman.
    — T.a. Frank, The Hive, 27 Apr. 2017
  • Idris Elba costars as the Commandant, a despotic leader who preys on Abu.
    — Kevin Jacobsen, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2024
  • Like the despotic Kims, Cuba’s regime keeps its citizens poor and unfree.
    — The Economist, 18 Apr. 2018
  • Most humans who have ever lived have done so under despotic regimes.
    — Stephen D. Krasner, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2020
  • What primarily shook the island, and caught its despotic rulers off guard, was Cubans’ hunger for freedom.
    — Néstor T. Carbonell, National Review, 16 July 2021
  • Trump has acted in ways that were despotic and authoritarian at times, but this takes the cake.
    — Ashley Pratte Oates, CNN, 5 Dec. 2022
  • By firing Comey, the president told us all that his despotic training wheels are coming off.
    — Jamil Smith, Esquire, 12 May 2017
  • Hip-hop regenerates constantly, and yet there has been an almost despotic grip on the throne(s) for some time.
    — Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 24 Dec. 2024
  • The Brothers Karamazov tells the story of three brothers and their father, a despotic, greedy and lecherous man.
    — Dallas News, 3 Mar. 2022
  • The rest of the world has also discovered—at last!—his despotic, corrupt, and inept character.
    — Moisés Naím, The Atlantic, 25 May 2017
  • The United States should follow the examples of other nations that were brave enough to make their despotic leaders face justice.
    — Jonathan M. Katz, The New Republic, 20 Jan. 2021
  • In the lab, though, the highest ranking males form particularly despotic regimes.
    — Byemily Underwood, science.org, 27 Jan. 2023
  • When policing and biting were present, a despotic hierarchy emerged — a single ant on top, with all other ants sharing the same rank.
    — Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 27 May 2016
  • And Jepperd, who once worked as a hunter for a despotic militia, is desperate to rescue Gus (and his fellow hybrid kids) from his former boss.
    — Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2023
  • But Valery, despite his lack of power in a despotic system, is able to help others, and finds a way to not just survive his pain but also live with its lasting effects.
    — Vanessa Armstrong, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2025
  • The despotic regime whose malign indifference killed so many and cost so much cannot be allowed to pretend that nothing happened.
    — Matthew Continetti, National Review, 12 June 2021
  • If the fighting went on, Ukrainian soldiers would die; if the fighting ceased, Ukrainian citizens would be trapped under a vicious and despotic regime.
    — Keith Gessen, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'despotic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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