dictatorship

[dik-tey-ter-ship, dik-tey-]

noun

1. a country, government, or the form of government in which absolute power is exercised by a dictator.

2. absolute, imperious, or overbearing power or control.

3. the office or position held by a dictator.

dictatorship

/ dɪkˈteɪtəˌʃɪp /

noun

1. the rank, office, or period of rule of a dictator

2. government by a dictator or dictators

3. a country ruled by a dictator or dictators

4. absolute or supreme power or authority

dictatorship

1. Government by a single person or by a junta or other group that is not responsible to the people or their elected representatives.

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were dictators.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dictatorship¹

First recorded in 1580–90; dictator + -ship

Example Sentences

In 2015, most European scholars — like most American liberals — could not have imagined a budding dictatorship led by a guy from “The Apprentice.”

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No monarchy or dictatorship for us; we were hostile to the idea of minting the portrait of a living leader for the very reason Caesar thought it was such a clever idea.

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Early Saturday morning, protesters packed the sand from Santa Monica to Laguna Beach, with signs that read “Bring back democracy,” “America is not a dictatorship,” and “Take the power back, say yes to 50.”

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Along with the kleptocratic Palestinian Authority dictatorship in Ramallah, this is who, and what, Group of 7 powers like Britain and France have decided to reward with an imprimatur of legitimate statehood.

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Farage was comparing his country - my country - with a brutal dictatorship that murders, imprisons and tortures opponents.

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Related Words

• authoritarianism www.thesaurus.com
• autocracy 
• totalitarianism 
• tyranny