authoritarian

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authoritarian

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From authority +‎ -arian, circa 1880.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔːˌθɒɹ.ɪˈtɛə̯.ɹɪən/

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˌθɔɹ.əˈtɛɹ.i.ən/, /ɔˌθɔɹ.əˈtɛɹ.i.ən/

  • Audio (US):

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authoritarian (comparative more authoritarian, superlative most authoritarian)

1. Of, or relating to, or exhibiting strict obedience to an authority; favoring authoritarianism over civic and individual liberties.

   the authoritarian personality

2. Demanding obedience to authority; marked by authoritarianism; dictatorial, tyrannical.

   The authoritarian government was demanding stricter laws for low-wage peasants.

   • 1873 December , Friedrich Engels, “Dell'autorità”, in Almanacco repubblicano per l'anno 1874; translated into English as “On Authority”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 23, translation of original in Italian, 1988, page 425:

     A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon — authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionaries.

   • 1981 May 1, Samuel Edward Konkin III, “Reply to Rothbard”, in Strategy of the New Libertarian Alliance, number 1:

     (selling one’s personal activity under another’s direction and supervision encourages dependency and authoritarian relationships);

   • 2020 March 14, “What Did the Sudden Fall of the Berlin Wall Tell Us?”, in Minghui‎:

     It may be that precisely due to its weak nature, an authoritarian dictatorship needs rampant violence and lies to maintain its rule.

   • 2022, “September 25, 2022”, in Mainland Affairs Council‎, archived from the original on 04 March 2023, Chronology:

     Wang Yi blatantly intimidates the world at the UNGA. He is a cheat and bully on the global stage in fundamental violation of the facts. Democratic countries should clearly recognize and unify against the challenge of authoritarian intervention. The Republic of China is a sovereign state. Taiwan has never been part of the People's Republic of China in historical fact, international law, or reality.

   • 2025 April 16, Christian Wolmar, “Hugely impressed by China's high-speed rail network”, in RAIL, number 1033, page 42:

     Of course, in China everything is determined by the state. So many times, when I asked how China had managed to build this network so quickly, I was told that it was because the government had backed it. And, of course, there are fewer Nimbys in an authoritarian state.

   • 2025 April 17, Linda Feldmann, “How Donald Trump is upending American culture”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     But amid all the disruption and norm-breaking, it’s Mr. Trump’s apparently keen interest in shaping American culture that may be most intriguing. To critics, it’s nothing less than a sign of his authoritarian bent – reminiscent of the Stalin-esque playbook that made government diktats over artistic expression a feature of the old Soviet Union.

3. Tending to impose one's demands upon others as if one were an authority.

• (strictly obedient, supportive of obedience): See Thesaurus:bossy
• (demanding strict obedience): See Thesaurus:bossy
• (tending to impose one's demands): arrogant, commanding, haughty, imperious
• See also Thesaurus:bossy

• (antonym(s) of “characterised by a tyrannical obedience to an authority”): democratic, liberal
• (antonym(s) of “tending to impose one's demands”): servile, humble, modest

authoritarian (plural authoritarians)

1. One who commands absolute obedience to his or her authority.

   The dictator was an authoritarian.

   • 2020 April 14, Quinta Jurecic, Benjamin Wittes, “Being an Actual Authoritarian Is Too Much Work for Trump”, in The Atlantic‎:

     Trump may be a Schmittian by instinct and aspiration, but he’s a fair-weather Schmittian only. A true authoritarian, confronted by limits on his power, might have ripped through them in service of establishing his authority.

   • 2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian‎:

     While his two predecessors had been authoritarians – they knew what they thought on the most contentious matters within Catholicism and imposed that view on the church regardless of dissenters – Francis preferred to work away patiently at building consensus and accommodating a variety of perspectives. To that end, he breathed new life into the system of regular gatherings – or synods – of bishops in Rome to debate pressing matters.

2. One who follows and is excessively obedient to authority.

• “authoritarian”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E Smith, editors (1911), “authoritarian”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.