as in totalitarian
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Recent Examples of jackbooted
Karol let those lines here serve as her brief indictment of the present, jackbooted environment around immigration and repression in the United States.
—
Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2026
Cooper was obsessed with the New World Order and the actions of jackbooted government enforcers against the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
—Andrew Stuttaford, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2018
Likethumb_up Replyreply Linklink Copy Reportflag eraley 22 minutes ago
Trump’s America and his jackbooted thugs.
—Marwa Eltagouri, Washington Post, 28 May 2018
These are the words and actions similar to low-level criminals in the mob or jackbooted followers of fascist leaders in 1930s Europe, not the president of the United States in 2018.
—David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 26 Mar. 2018
But what makes director Jeremy Wechsler’s production engaging throughout is the way the cast commits to these characters without turning them into caricatures of either obsessive-nerd culture or jackbooted thugs.
—Kerry Reid, chicagotribune.com, 31 Jan. 2018
Was Rizzo a jackbooted tyrant who went out of his way to punish blacks and gays?
—David Gambacorta, Philly.com, 22 Aug. 2017
For some, the racist taunts of the past few days recalled a time when jackbooted members of the far-right National Front taunted immigrants on the streets of Britain in the 1980s, during the painful deindustrialization of the Thatcher era.
—Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, 27 June 2016
Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2026
Cooper was obsessed with the New World Order and the actions of jackbooted government enforcers against the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
—Andrew Stuttaford, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2018
Likethumb_up Replyreply Linklink Copy Reportflag eraley 22 minutes ago
Trump’s America and his jackbooted thugs.
—Marwa Eltagouri, Washington Post, 28 May 2018
These are the words and actions similar to low-level criminals in the mob or jackbooted followers of fascist leaders in 1930s Europe, not the president of the United States in 2018.
—David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 26 Mar. 2018
But what makes director Jeremy Wechsler’s production engaging throughout is the way the cast commits to these characters without turning them into caricatures of either obsessive-nerd culture or jackbooted thugs.
—Kerry Reid, chicagotribune.com, 31 Jan. 2018
Was Rizzo a jackbooted tyrant who went out of his way to punish blacks and gays?
—David Gambacorta, Philly.com, 22 Aug. 2017
For some, the racist taunts of the past few days recalled a time when jackbooted members of the far-right National Front taunted immigrants on the streets of Britain in the 1980s, during the painful deindustrialization of the Thatcher era.
—Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, 27 June 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for jackbooted
Adjective
-
Possible sharing of nuclear secrets The claim that North Korea was the likely recipient of the two reactors allegedly aboard the ship comes after the secretive totalitarian regime released images in December 2025 of its first nuclear submarine.—
Pau Mosquera,
CNN Money,
12 May 2026
-
The heartbreaking and ironic thing is that democracy has given rise, through the proper, right voting mechanism, to this kind of totalitarian regime.—
Zack Sharf,
Variety,
12 May 2026
Adjective
-
Beyond its pleasures as a noir, the chronicle of Kolechko’s fight against nascent Soviet power easily reminds one of present-day Ukraine’s struggle to preserve its dignity in the face of oppressive forces.—
The Atlantic,
The Atlantic,
14 May 2026
-
But the sweltering, sticky, oppressive facepalm of summer doesn’t make the other seasons more palatable.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
8 May 2026
Adjective
-
The show, which featured a sizzling performance by Walton Goggins, as an authoritarian vigilante, was an avant-garde breakthrough for television.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
17 May 2026
-
Given the authoritarian nature of the government and its control of the media, the full, brutal extent of these crackdowns are never seen by those inside the country, much less by foreigners.—
Alissa Simon,
Variety,
16 May 2026
Adjective
-
Joaquin Phoenix's villainous performance as the tyrannical emperor Commodus earned him an Academy Award nomination.—
Brendan Le,
PEOPLE,
5 May 2026
-
At the same time, the list of what a child needs has become exhaustive and tyrannical.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 May 2026
Adjective
-
The Academy rules work for countries with democratic governments but not for countries with despotic regimes.—
Nick Vivarelli,
Variety,
4 May 2026
-
Hard to Be a God is about a planet that has not been allowed to advance beyond the Middle Ages, and descended into a filthy, despotic, and violent world.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
14 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
In Russia, czarist monuments were replaced by statues of Communist leaders, which in turn were torn down — statues of Stalin also fell in Hungary, Georgia and Albania.—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Compared to their forerunners in the tsarist era, with their party congresses held abroad, their executive committees, and their active recruitment in imperial Russia’s universities, Soviet dissidents remained a comparatively small and informal conglomeration of activists.—
Benjamin Nathans
September 24,
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
After two tournaments in autocratic countries (Russia and Qatar), where FIFA could order up stadiums à la carte, the coming 2026 iteration has required the messy work of dealmaking in democratic societies.—
Henry Grabar,
The Atlantic,
12 May 2026
-
Hungary's Péter Magyar took his oath of office on Saturday to become the country's new prime minister, ending Viktor Orbán's 16 years of autocratic rule.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
9 May 2026
Adjective
-
These tyrannous tabbies don’t understand that canning is not exclusively for wet food.—
Julie Klausner,
Vulture,
27 Dec. 2024
-
Indeed, Daniel Roher’s pulse-pumping documentary about the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has all the ingredients: a mysterious case of near-fatal poisoning, a web of for-hire hoodlums, Vladimir Putin as the tyrannous leader behind it all.—
Tomris Laffly,
Harper's BAZAAR,
1 Feb. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Jackbooted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jackbooted. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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