as in dictatorship
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
a popular uprising replaced that nation's tyranny with freedom and democracy
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tyranny
Washington was a slaveholder and had fought a revolution to overthrow British tyranny.
—
John Garrison Marks, Time, 23 Jan. 2026
Who viewed guidance as tyranny.
—Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 23 Jan. 2026
Iran’s creative community has borne the brunt of tyranny for decades.
—Maryam Lieberman, HollywoodReporter, 23 Jan. 2026
This approach is an extension of the 2025 Liberation Day tariffs—a sweeping policy that imposed a baseline 10% duty on nearly all imports, with higher rates for specific sectors and countries, all in the name of freeing American consumers from the tyranny of imports.
—Andrew Leahey, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
John Garrison Marks, Time, 23 Jan. 2026
Who viewed guidance as tyranny.
—Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 23 Jan. 2026
Iran’s creative community has borne the brunt of tyranny for decades.
—Maryam Lieberman, HollywoodReporter, 23 Jan. 2026
This approach is an extension of the 2025 Liberation Day tariffs—a sweeping policy that imposed a baseline 10% duty on nearly all imports, with higher rates for specific sectors and countries, all in the name of freeing American consumers from the tyranny of imports.
—Andrew Leahey, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tyranny
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tyranny
Noun
-
The royal government was also known as a dictatorship for banning political parties, suppressing revolts and political opposition, controlling the press and having its own secret police force called SAVAK.—
Nollyanne Delacruz,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Throughout, Hadi calls attention to the brutality that’s endemic in Iraqi daily life under a dictatorship.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
From ancient sources philosophers and poets, democrats and demagogues, found justification for everything from anarchy to fascism, and there are reasons for both justifications.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
-
That is really thuggish fascism.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
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
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The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Joy Neumeyer What do the far right’s fluctuating fortunes in Poland suggest about countries seeking an off-ramp from autocracy?—
Leah Downey,
The New York Review of Books,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Amodei’s essay covers a lot of ground, from existential threats to fighting autocracy to saving jobs.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
His loathing for totalitarianism was among the very few hatreds Reagan ever held, his biographer Edmund Morris said.—
Peter Wehner,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2026
-
After Al Qaeda and then Saddam Hussein abruptly emerged as incarnations of a new totalitarianism, Michael Ignatieff and Niall Ferguson, among many others, impatiently urged the United States to assume its imperial obligations and impose democracy, human rights, and free trade through war.—
Victor J. Blue,
Harpers Magazine,
23 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
But with his bent turned toward authoritarianism, the voters are now rejecting his policies.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
9 Feb. 2026
-
These comments are said against a backdrop of escalating violence and authoritarianism in this country that’s directly tied to out-of-control behavior by federal agents conducting immigration raids.—
Thomas Kennedy,
Sun Sentinel,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
That balance, not absolutism, is how the U.S. will sustain leadership in the AI era.—
Paulo Carvão,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
-
At the Claremont Institute in California, the disciples of Leo Strauss, the intellectual guru to several generations of conservatives, combine Platonic philosophy, biblical teachings, and a reverence for the American founding into a politics of ethical and religious absolutism.—
George Packer,
The Atlantic,
24 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tyranny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tyranny. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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