noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A type of government where absolute sovereignty is allotted to an individual or a small clique.
2. 2
   a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.) wordnet
3. 3
   A government which exercises autocratic rule.

   "There were no elections during Franco's dictatorship."

4. 4
   Any household, institution, or other organization that is run under such sovereignty or autocracy.

Synonyms

All synonyms

absolutismautocracydespotismtyrannyabsolute monarchyabsolutism

Antonyms

All antonyms

democracy

Example

More examples

"The dictatorship came under fire for its human rights record."

Etymology

From dictator + -ship.

Related phrases

dictatorship of democracydictatorship of the bourgeoisiedictatorship of the majoritydictatorship of the proletariatpetro-dictatorshipproletarian dictatorshiptin-pot dictatorship

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.