authoritarian
[uh-thawr-i-tair-ee-uh n, uh-thor-]
- favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom: authoritarian principles; authoritarian attitudes.
- of or relating to a governmental or political system, principle, or practice in which individual freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or authority of the state, centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally accountable to the people.
- exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of another or of others: an authoritarian parent.
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- a person who favors or acts according to authoritarian principles.
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Origin of authoritarian
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
dictatorial, imperious, totalitarian, strict, rigid, autocratic, tyrannical, autocrat, disciplinarian, doctrinaire, absolute, dictator, tyrant, despot, absolutist, authoritative, despotic, dogmatic, harsh, magisterialExamples from the Web for authoritarian
Contemporary Examples
And yes, that authoritarian, patriarchal guru-power structure, invariably, always leads to abuses.
Perhaps that name should not be felt so ruefully today, despite the reversion to authoritarian control in Egypt.
Rivers continued on her political, authoritarian monologue by describing what kind of tyrant she would be.
The crisis in neighbouring Ukraine has rattled Alexander Lukashenko's authoritarian regime.
Coaches have, nevertheless, found Zaatari a somewhat more accommodating sporting environment than their authoritarian homeland.
Historical Examples
At this yielding he, being by nature an authoritarian, seemed not a little pleased.
The God of LoveJustin Huntly McCarthy
He has the harsh, authoritarian manner of the provincial of importance.
Three PlaysLuigi Pirandello
These are the authoritarian or State Socialist and the individualist methods.
AnarchyErrico Malatesta
A third point to be noted is the authoritarian character of the regime of the future.
The Idea of ProgressJ. B. Bury
The authoritarian nightmare of the 1960s has come home for them.
Little BrotherCory Doctorow
authoritarian
- favouring, denoting, or characterized by strict obedience to authority
- favouring, denoting, or relating to government by a small elite with wide powers
- despotic; dictatorial; domineering
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- a person who favours or practises authoritarian policies
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for authoritarian
adj.
1862, "favoring imposed order over freedom," from authority + -an. Cf. authoritative, which originally had this meaning to itself. Noun in the sense of one advocating or practicing such governance is from 1859.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper