as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
by the end of the 20th century many countries around the world had rejected despotism in favor of democracy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of despotism
The hope is that the institutional reforms started by the interim administration of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus deliver the necessary checks and balances to avert another lurch toward despotism.
—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.
—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
That’s authoritarian bluster of the sort heard in despotisms.
—
Steven Greenhut,
Oc Register,
4 Oct. 2025
The Bashar Assad regime’s collapse inspired a wave of optimism about despotism turning into democracy.
—
Daniel Depetris,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.
—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
That’s authoritarian bluster of the sort heard in despotisms.
—
Steven Greenhut,
Oc Register,
4 Oct. 2025
The Bashar Assad regime’s collapse inspired a wave of optimism about despotism turning into democracy.
—
Daniel Depetris,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despotism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despotism
Noun
-
In its vision of a desolate America ruled by tyranny and militia, the United States becomes, in the eyes of those who live in its pre-industrial ruins, an idealized symbol of better times.
-
Reading words in legal texts divorced from fundamental moral values will not save us from tyranny.
Noun
-
His story stretches beyond sports, touching one of Haiti’s many mysteries of Haiti’s brutal Duvalier dictatorship and reflecting on the outsize role Haitians have long played in shaping American history.
-
Virtually all contemporary dictatorships are cosplay democracies with term limits, elections, and legislatures—the few ruling, as Amos Perlmutter put it, in the name of the many.
Noun
-
This book keeps my feet on the ground and my heart connected to the greater pulse suffering under late-stage capitalism and fascism.
-
Through blood-curdling howls and rants about fascism, fraud, and fighting to understand your identity, Truck Violence push through ugliness to find something more unaltered and real.
Noun
-
In spite of their original values of humanitarianism and neutrality, these organizations have been morally debased from within, using the language of human rights and international justice yet deploying it on behalf of autocracies and against the liberal democracies that created them.
-
The good ones who are trying to carefully transition a country from democracy to autocracy don't do it overnight.
Cite this Entry
“Despotism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despotism. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
