totalitarian
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life.
-
exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of totalitarian
First recorded in 1925–30; totalit(y) + -arian
Explanation
You can decipher the meaning of totalitarian by the first part: "total." It refers to a government with total power, one that exercises complete, even oppressive control over the people and their activities. (You can also figure it’s not nice.) The word totalitarian first came about in 1926 as totalitario, an adjective to describe the Italian fascism of that time. The English form was adapted from the Italian to describe an absolutely powerful regime. Socialist leader Norman Thomas once said: "To us Americans much has been given; of us much is required. With all our faults and mistakes, it is our strength in support of the freedom our forefathers loved which has saved mankind from subjection to totalitarian power."
Vocabulary lists containing totalitarian
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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Power Suffix: -arian
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One of them, however, has planted a reminder of the Arizona senator’s anti-totalitarian legacy at the corner of 15th and I streets in D.C.
From Washington Post • Aug. 24, 2022
Others, such as Jan Nemec’s instantly banned “Report on the Party and the Guests” were anti-totalitarian allegories.
From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2022
Does that mean his great anti-totalitarian novel, Darkness at Noon, should go unread?
From BBC • Feb. 3, 2014
Hitchens was most often compared to George Orwell, another muscular, anti-totalitarian journalist.
From Slate • Aug. 22, 2012
Gingrich said Wednesday that his film, "Nine Days that Changed the World," is still needed to remind young Poles, secular historians and people worldwide of John Paul's anti-totalitarian convictions.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 9, 2010
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
