authoritarians

noun

plural of authoritarian
1
as in disciplinarians

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2
as in dictators

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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 authoritarians Not your grandma’s authoritarians Today’s authoritarian rulers realize that civil society has the potential to support democracy and pry loose their grip on power. — Christopher Justin Einolf, The Conversation, 26 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for authoritarians
  1. disciplinarians
  2. dictators
  3. sticklers
  4. tyrants
  5. taskmasters
  6. despots
  7. kings
Noun
  • You are asked to be teachers, counselors, social workers, disciplinarians, mentors, advocates, crisis managers and emotional anchors for children navigating an increasingly complicated world.
    — Susana A. Mendoza, Chicago Tribune, 2 June 2026
Definition of disciplinarians
Noun
  • No matter how powerful, dictators have always needed subordinates—censors, propagandists, security guards, police officers, intelligence analysts, and local bureaucrats—to carry out their orders.
    — Seva Gunitsky, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026
  • For years, America’s conversation about the Middle East revolved around terrorism, stability, and the supposedly binary choice between friendly dictators and dangerous Islamists.
    — Ayman M. Mohyeldin, Vanity Fair, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of dictators
Noun
  • Strict meal times and long happy hours tell us that the French are sticklers about having a break and leaning into leisure, which doesn’t sound half bad at all.
    — Matt Ortile, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The rise of the grammar sticklers Many of today’s ideas about what constitutes correct English are based on a singular – often mistaken – 19th-century view of the forces that govern our language.
    — Valerie M. Fridland, The Conversation, 21 Apr. 2026
Definition of sticklers
Noun
  • Because, after all, as in all of Haber’s novels, the point is not really what is happening in the world but what is happening in the mind—in this case the mind of the pettiest of tyrants.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 July 2026
  • Aegon, dragged out of King’s Landing by spymaster Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) in an effort to save him from the fratricidal Aemond, gets an up-close look at the petty tyrants who have sprouted up in the countryside thanks to his impetuous rule.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 18 June 2026
Definition of tyrants
Noun
  • Work is work, and there’s writerly reward, too, in daily encounters with a diverse range of taskmasters across all social groups.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 29 Aug. 2025
Definition of taskmasters
Noun
  • Upending global trade, plucking a dictator out of Caracas, escalating to full-on war with Iran, shredding alliances, courting despots — the major twists and turns of this administration never end.
    — Kate Andrews, Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2026
  • In this telling, Ivan appears as a precursor to Stalin and other ruinous Russian despots.
    — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of despots
Noun
  • Mick and Kip climb out of the car and stretch at their leisure like a couple of young kings.
    — George Saunders, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
  • How far might a nation go that had no kings to depose, no entrenched hierarchies to uproot, a country so young and iconoclastic and resource-rich?
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of kings

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authoritarianism
authoritarians
authoritative
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Cite this Entry

“Authoritarians.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/authoritarians. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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