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.
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as in authoritarian
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of totalitarian
Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2022
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
Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 3 June 2025
Orozco’s stickers of abstraction posed the question of whether abstraction—denigrated to its lowest possible level—could now serve as a last sign of resistance and redemption from the totalitarian conditions of reification.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
Adjective
But, ten years later, his embrace of near-totalitarian control bears the deep imprint of his most personal beliefs about force, weakness, faith, and order.
—Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2022
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
Noun
The series had introduced Elisabeth Moss as June, a mother and wife who was captured by the totalitarian fascist regime the Republic of Gilead that had overthrown the U.S. government.
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 3 June 2025
Orozco’s stickers of abstraction posed the question of whether abstraction—denigrated to its lowest possible level—could now serve as a last sign of resistance and redemption from the totalitarian conditions of reification.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for totalitarian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalitarian
Adjective
-
In many areas along and east of the Mississippi River, heat index values could soar to between 110 and 115 degrees — the kind of oppressive heat that can quickly turn dangerous without proper precautions.—
Brandi D. Addison,
Austin American Statesman,
23 July 2025
-
Sweltering under a heat dome that brought oppressive triple-digit temperatures and humidity to large swaths of the Midwest and East Coast, average daily highs in Chicago topped 84.1 degrees in June, 3.7 degrees above normal.—
Robert Channick,
Chicago Tribune,
22 July 2025
Adjective
-
While Western democracies debate environmental reviews and grid reliability, authoritarian systems can rapidly direct energy flows to computing infrastructure.—
Güney Yıldız,
Forbes.com,
25 July 2025
-
North Korea is under sanctions from the United States — as well as the United Nations and several other countries — largely in response to the isolated authoritarian state's weapons programs.—
Alana Wise,
NPR,
25 July 2025
Noun
-
Why don’t all the rich potentates, sheiks, oligarchs and MAGA dictators meet and fix it?—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
25 June 2025
-
With the pandemic, the year-round population of a once-seasonal resort town swelled with Manhattan refugees, those in the Trump orbit, and tech and finance potentates, many of them serious collectors like Ken Griffin and Steve Ross.—
Ben Widdicombe,
Vulture,
12 May 2025
Noun
-
Increasingly, Big Tech is siding with autocrats, and the platforms’ designs help keep society under control.—
Lisa Schirch,
The Conversation,
7 July 2025
-
This crisis destabilizes regions, fuels mass migration, and empowers anti-American autocrats.—
Kevin Sabet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 May 2025
Noun
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The Boys mothership show is heading towards its fifth and final season, premiering next year, and so far, no one seems powerful enough to take down the dictator supe.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
25 July 2025
-
In 2003: Qusay and Uday Hussein, sons of Iraqi dictator Sadam Hussein, were killed by U.S. Special Forces and infantrymen from 101st Airborne after a three-hour firefight in the city of Mosul, Iraq.—
Lorenzino Estrada,
AZCentral.com,
23 July 2025
Noun
-
Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 July 2025
-
Our tyrant locks up immigrants, comptrollers too, And sows chaos no matter the cost, so, what’s a public theater to do, To ensure that our democracy is not lost?—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
17 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Totalitarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalitarian. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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