totalitarian

[ toh-tal-i-tair-ee-uhn ]

See synonyms for: totalitarian totalitarians on Thesaurus.com

adjective

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

an adherent of totalitarianism.

Origin of totalitarian

First recorded in 1925–30; totalit(y) + -arian

Other words from totalitarian

an·ti·to·tal·i·tar·i·an, adjective
non·to·tal·i·tar·i·an, adjective

Words Nearby totalitarian

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use totalitarian in a sentence

Starting in 2018, the regime transitioned from a relatively free authoritarian system to a closed dictatorship, not quite totalitarian but close.
The Miscalculations and Missed Opportunities that Led Putin to War in Ukraine | Philip Short | August 3, 2022 | Time
So in terms of capitalism, if the alternative is communism then yes, I think that there are actually excellent arguments why market society is better than a top-down authoritarian, totalitarian dictatorship.
Steven Pinker Has His Reasons - Issue 108: Change | Brian Gallagher | November 17, 2021 | Nautilus
It’s akin to security agents from a totalitarian regime showing up at the house of an opposition leader looking for evidence of espionage.
In one quote, the core of the effort to undermine the 2020 election is revealed | Philip Bump | July 23, 2021 | Washington Post
Indeed, history has shown us just how much of a threat schlocky Hollywood entertainment is to totalitarian governments.
North Korea’s Secret Movie Bootleggers: How Western Films Make It Into the Hermit Kingdom | Lizzie Crocker | December 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Kundera was reacting against the efforts of 20th-century totalitarian regimes to refashion novelists as propagandists.
The Birth of the Novel | Nick Romeo | November 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

So you are saying that Napoleon was not a totalitarian-dictator as many historians are eager to suggest?
Napoleon Was a Dynamite Dictator | J.P. O’Malley | November 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Biographer Andrew Roberts argues that history has maligned Napoleon by lumping him in with totalitarian thugs.
Napoleon Was a Dynamite Dictator | J.P. O’Malley | November 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
One has to admit that a totalitarian empire is impossible without the Iron Curtain or a system of complete information isolation.
Putin’s Dream of Empire Doesn’t Stop at Crimea, Or Even Ukraine | Oleg Shynkarenko | March 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Convince her its governments were evil, totalitarian, when in reality they were democratic?
A World Called Crimson | Darius John Granger
This totalitarian trading system insures that foreign trade serves the purposes of the state.
East-West Trade Trends | Harold E. Stassen
They would then be free to impose their will and spread their totalitarian ideology.
State of the Union Addresses of George W. Bush | George W. Bush
Modern China faces more than political problems; a totalitarian revolution has engulfed it.
Government in Republican China | Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger
The totalitarian state does not recognize personal liberties for the individual.
Readings on Fascism and National Socialism | Various

British Dictionary definitions for totalitarian

totalitarian

/ (təʊˌtælɪˈtɛərɪən) /

adjective

of, denoting, relating to, or characteristic of a dictatorial one-party state that regulates every realm of life

noun

a person who advocates or practises totalitarian policies

Origin of totalitarian

from totality + -arian

Derived forms of totalitarian

totalitarianism, noun

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

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