as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
warned that forfeiture of civil liberties for the sake of security would only result in the terror of totalism
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Recent Examples of totalism
Common sense and a mania for systematization, logical thinking and ideological totalism, are constantly at war in the French character, as a belief in instant happiness and a paranoia about imaginary enemies are in the American.
—
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalism
Noun
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Every other protection against tyranny and political oppression — that is, every aspect of a stable democratic system — suffers a possibly mortal blow if the basic tenets of an independent judiciary and the adversarial advocacy of lawyers are abandoned or lost.—
Michael Mcauliffe,
Sun Sentinel,
3 Apr. 2025
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Separated by 250 years, these two actions both supposedly raise the question: Just how much tyranny ...—
Rich Lowry,
National Review,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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No one wants to have their family vacation turned into some Kafkaesque nightmare at the hands of ICE agents emboldened by the country's general climate of incipient fascism.—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Apr. 2025
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With the show telling a cautionary tale about the perils of ignorance in the face of fascism, Peck cannot help but draw a direct parallel to our current political situation.—
Stephen Daw,
Billboard,
15 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In the benchmark survey, known as Bright Line Watch, U.S.-based professors rate the performance of American democracy on a scale from zero (complete dictatorship) to 100 (perfect democracy).—
Frank Langfitt,
NPR,
22 Apr. 2025
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In the late 1970s, Argentina was under the heel of a military dictatorship.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Forgotten Anne, for example, makes arguments against authoritarianism and totalitarianism.—
G Kirilloff,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
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The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.—
Claude Malhuret,
The Atlantic,
8 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Public discourse must resist the seduction of emotional absolutism, demanding instead that moral arguments be grounded in fact and logic.—
Kevin Waldman,
Twin Cities,
10 Apr. 2025
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In our skies as in our social lives, incremental change, like ring rain, seems to work slowly, while acts of frightening absolutism seem to happen overnight.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
22 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Totalism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalism. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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