1
as in monarchy
a system of government in which a religious body holds unlimited power
Under a theocracy, an entire nation officially follows one religion.
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in democracy
a group of people who live in a territory ruled by a religious body
The country was a theocracy governed by religious leaders.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of theocracy
Margaret Atwood’s dystopian allegorical novel didn’t over-explain the U.S.’ descent into fascist theocracy and thus left itself open to interpretation — so open that even American conservatives were able to claim it as a warning about Muslim fundamentalism.
—
Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Apr. 2025
The Doom Slayer was a slave to capitalism in Doom (2016), the soft reboot that revived the franchise, and his now-origins as a slave to a religious theocracy sounds like something that could be cool as hell to explore.
—Kazuma Hashimoto, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2025
The first of its two parts details the impacts of war and theocracy on both her family and her community: torture, death on the battlefield, constant raids, supply shortages and a growing black market.
—New York Times, 8 July 2024
The Testaments takes place in the dystopian theocracy of Gilead more than 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale.
—Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for theocracy
Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Apr. 2025
The Doom Slayer was a slave to capitalism in Doom (2016), the soft reboot that revived the franchise, and his now-origins as a slave to a religious theocracy sounds like something that could be cool as hell to explore.
—Kazuma Hashimoto, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2025
The first of its two parts details the impacts of war and theocracy on both her family and her community: torture, death on the battlefield, constant raids, supply shortages and a growing black market.
—New York Times, 8 July 2024
The Testaments takes place in the dystopian theocracy of Gilead more than 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale.
—Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for theocracy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for theocracy
Noun
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The real Carême cooked for the infamous French diplomat Talleyrand, a guy who managed to slither his way through the revolution, the reign of Napoleon, and the reinstatement of the monarchy.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
8 May 2025
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Spying was an appurtenance of monarchy, and therefore incompatible with republican government.—
James Santel,
The Atlantic,
8 May 2025
Noun
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The group's latest initiative continues its campaign of peaceful resistance, using the symbolism of May Day—a historic day of worker solidarity—to spotlight broader concerns about democracy and rising authoritarianism.—
Tom Rogers,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Apr. 2025
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So curtailing their work is another arrow aimed at the heart of democracy, as damaging as the attack on universities and the free press.—
Anita Chabria,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2025
Noun
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But a slave mentality remains deeply ingrained in Russian minds, along with a latent monarchism and paternalism.—
Nikita Petrov,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Dec. 2017
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But for anyone outside the British elite, the constitutional monarchism that emerged after the civil wars did not look much like democracy or true liberty.—
Andrew Cockburn,
Harper's Magazine,
20 Aug. 2024
Noun
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Goldman Sachs in mid-April warned that Brent crude at $62 a barrel — its price forecast at the time — could more than double the kingdom’s 2024 budget deficit of $30.8 billion.—
Natasha Turak,
CNBC,
11 May 2025
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Having covered Alta Moda shows since 2012, Lever is both witness and visual chronicler of the most exciting haute couture weekend in the fashion kingdom.—
Bianca Salonga,
Forbes.com,
10 May 2025
Noun
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For instance, during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961, the head of intelligence, Johnny Abbes, was plucked from obscurity in Mexico and in 1958 began to lead the dictator’s repression machine.—
Erica Frantz,
The Conversation,
16 May 2025
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In the Soviet dictatorship, this was meant literally: engineers and senior managers in charge of color film production would be denounced, arrested, and executed during the Great Purges of 1937–1838.—
Matthew Wills,
JSTOR Daily,
15 May 2025
Noun
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The past holds many examples of great change: regimes ending, monarchies becoming republics, whole civilizations vanishing, ways of managing relations between peoples and states swept aside, to be replaced by new ones.—
Margaret MacMillan,
The Atlantic,
30 Apr. 2025
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Drawn out of his humble galley kitchen and into a world of diplomatic intrigue, Carême becomes a pawn in the cold war between Talleyrand, a Machiavellian schemer stabbing backs in the name of a newborn republic, and Fouché, a draconian lawman who mistrusts anything that moves.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
30 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Theocracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/theocracy. Accessed 19 May. 2025.
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