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

Instead, Sherman was pushed to exhibit the kind of blind loyalty to a dear leader that you’d expect to be demanded in dictatorships like those of North Korea or Hungary.

From Los Angeles Times

It can also explain the deceptive normality of life when a society plunges into dictatorship.

From Salon

The brilliant M. Gessen, perhaps the leading authority on dictatorship, published an essay in the New York Review, “Autocracy: Rules for Survival,” shortly after the 2016 election.

From Los Angeles Times

The South has also changed in Mr Ahn's time here - once a poor military dictatorship, it is now a wealthy, powerful democracy.

From BBC

Indeed, that “unconditional gift” from a Gulf State dictatorship is a clue, perhaps, as to how all this plays out.

From Salon

Related Words

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