Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
totalitarian. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
totalitarian, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
totalitarian in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
totalitarian you have here. The definition of the word
totalitarian will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
totalitarian, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Italian totalitario (“complete, absolute, totalitarian”) + -an. Equivalent to totality + -arian.
Pronunciation
Adjective
totalitarian (comparative more totalitarian, superlative most totalitarian)
- Of or relating to a system of government where the people have virtually no authority and the state wields absolute control of every aspect of the country, socially, financially, and politically.
The divine truth is stronger than totalitarian falsehoods.
1990, Ronald Reagan, An American Life, Pocket Books, →ISBN, pages 372–373:Only history can tell us where China will go from here. The Chinese leadership's brutal crackdown on students seeking fundamental democratic rights makes it difficult to chart the future. Those brave students who laid down their lives against the tanks of Tiananmen Square confirmed what I'd always believed: that no totalitarian society can bottle up the instinctive drive of men and women to be free, and that once you give a captive people a little freedom, they'll demand still more.
Translations
Noun
totalitarian (plural totalitarians)
- An advocate of totalitarianism.