totalitarian

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

adjective

1. 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.

2. exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.

noun

1. an adherent of totalitarianism.

totalitarian

/ təʊˌtælɪˈtɛərɪən /

adjective

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

noun

1. a person who advocates or practises totalitarian policies

Other Word Forms

• antitotalitarian adjective
• nontotalitarian adjective
• totalitarianism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of totalitarian¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of totalitarian¹

from _totality + _-arian

Example Sentences

“A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy,” Orwell wrote in his diary while he was working on the book.

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This exploitation was of course opportunistic in the extreme, but it also revealed something fundamental about totalitarian psychology.

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The plot is simple and incredibly dark: In a dystopian United States under totalitarian rule, 100 teenage boys are selected from a lottery to participate in a contest that only one can win.

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Released in 1982 and set in 2025, it predicts a totalitarian America in which citizens are declared enemies of the state by a game show and forced to run from law enforcement and elite assassins.

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North Korea is one of the world's most repressive totalitarian states, with Kim and his family ruling the hermit nation for decades.

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Related Words

• authoritarian 
• autocratic 
• monolithic 
• oppressive 
• tyrannical