dictator
Tyrant with power
A dictator is a ruler with absolute power, typically one who seized control rather than inheriting or being elected to it.
The word carries strongly negative connotations of tyranny and oppression: The country suffered under the dictator for decades.
Informally, dictator describes anyone who acts with overbearing authority: My boss is a total dictator about the dress code.
Cruel, absolute ruler
- despotRuler with absolute power
- strongmanPowerful lifter or despot
- authoritarianFavoring absolute control
- rulerOne who governs
overlord · potentate · sovereign · emperor · czar · sultan · caliph · khan
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- brutalitySavage, merciless behavior
- crackdownSudden strict enforcement
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
censorship · intimidation · coercion · subjugation · purge · imprisonment · exile · disappearance
State controls everything absolutely
- authoritarianismConcentrated, unchecked governmental power
- autocracyRule by one
- tyrannyOppressive, absolute governance
- absolutismUnrestricted governmental authority
fascism · junta · police state · one-party · propaganda · indoctrination · surveillance · secret police
tyrant
Cruel, absolute ruler
- despotRuler with absolute power
- strongmanPowerful lifter or despot
- authoritarianFavoring absolute control
ruler · overlord · potentate · sovereign · emperor · czar · sultan · caliph · khan · shah
repression
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- brutalitySavage, merciless behavior
- crackdownSudden strict enforcement
suppression · censorship · intimidation · coercion · subjugation · purge · imprisonment · exile · disappearance · torture
totalitarianism
State controls everything absolutely
- authoritarianismConcentrated, unchecked governmental power
- autocracyRule by one
- tyrannyOppressive, absolute governance
absolutism · fascism · junta · police state · one-party · propaganda · indoctrination · surveillance · secret police · cult of personality
absolute
Total, without qualification
- controlAuthority to direct
- dominanceSuperior influence over others
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
rule · command · supremacy · grip · consolidation · seizure · reign · decree · mandate · iron fist
- historyancient civilizations, past events, historian, epochs, era
- Dystopia1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopian fiction, totalitarianism, Brave New World
- authorityleaders, ruler, rulers, monarch, bosses
- dominancedominance, dominant, supremacy, superiority, ascendancy
- politicospolitician, legislator, lawmaker, senator, congressman
- public figurespolitician, celebrity, activist, journalist, pundit
dictatordemocrat
Advocate for popular rule
constitutional monarch · prime minister · elected official · representative · parliamentarian
dictatorsubject
Matter under discussion
follower · subordinate · servant · citizen · commoner
dictatorfacilitator
Neutral process guide
collaborator · servant leader · mediator · liberator · team player
- military dictator
- military dictatorshipRegime ruled by armed forces
- taking dictation
- tin-pot dictatorWeak ruler pretending grandeur
- tinpot dictatorContemptible small-scale authoritarian
- tin-pot dictatorshipWeak authoritarian state
dictate, dictatorship, dictates, dictated, dictation, dictating, dictatorial, dictators, dictatorships