TOTALITARIANISM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does totalitarianism mean? 

• TOTALITARIANISM (noun)
  The noun TOTALITARIANISM has 2 senses:

1. a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

2. the principle of complete and unrestricted power in government

  Familiarity information: TOTALITARIANISM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOTALITARIANISM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

absolutism; authoritarianism; Caesarism; despotism; dictatorship; monocracy; one-man rule; shogunate; Stalinism; totalitarianism; tyranny

Hypernyms ("totalitarianism" is a kind of...):

autarchy; autocracy (a political system governed by a single individual)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "totalitarianism"):

police state (a country that maintains repressive control over the people by means of police (especially secret police))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The principle of complete and unrestricted power in government

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

absolutism; totalism; totalitarianism

Hypernyms ("totalitarianism" is a kind of...):

ideology; political orientation; political theory (an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation)