authoritarianism

English

Etymology

From authoritarian +‎ -ism.

Noun

authoritarianism (countable and uncountable, plural authoritarianisms)

1. A form of government in which the governing body has absolute, or almost absolute, control. Typically this control is maintained by force, and little heed is paid to public opinion or the judicial system.
   • 2025 February 25, Linda Feldmann, “How Trump skirts checks and balances unlike any modern-day US president”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     Instead of three co-equal branches acting as a check on each other, power has become increasingly concentrated over the years in the White House – a trend that is now being supercharged under Mr. Trump in ways that, to critics, raise the specter of authoritarianism.

Derived terms

• anti-authoritarianism
• ecoauthoritarianism
• neo-authoritarianism
• performative authoritarianism

Translations

authoritarian form of government

• Albanian: autoritarizëm m
• Arabic: سُلْطَوِيَّة f (sulṭawiyya)
• Armenian: ավտորիտարիզմ (hy) (avtoritarizm)
• Azerbaijani: avtoritarizm
• Belarusian: аўтарытары́зм m (aŭtarytarýzm)
• Bulgarian: авторитари́зъм (bg) m (avtoritarízǎm)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: autoritarisme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 威權主義 / 威权主义 (wai¹ kyun⁴ zyu² ji⁶)

  Mandarin: 威權主義 / 威权主义 (wēiquán zhǔyì)

• Czech: autoritářství n
• Dutch: autoritarisme (nl) n
• Estonian: autoritarism
• Finnish: autoritarismi (fi)
• French: autoritarisme (fr) m
• Galician: autoritarismo (gl) m
• Georgian: ავტორიტარიზმი (avṭoriṭarizmi)
• German: Autoritarismus (de) m
• Hebrew: סַמְכוּתָנוּת f (samkhutanút)
• Hindi: सत्तावाद m (sattāvād)
• Hungarian: autoritarizmus (hu)
• Indonesian: otoritarianisme, otoriterisme
• Italian: autoritarismo (it) m
• Japanese: 権威主義 (ja) (けんいしゅぎ, ken'ishugi)
• Kazakh: авторитаризм (avtoritarizm)
• Khmer: អាជ្ញានិយម (km) (ʼaacñaaniʼyum)
• Korean: 권위주의(權威主義) (gwonwijuui)
• Kyrgyz: авторитаризм (avtoritarizm)
• Latvian: autoritārisms m
• Lithuanian: autoritarizmas (lt) m
• Macedonian: авторитари́зам m (avtoritarízam)
• Malay: autoritarianisme
• Marathi: अधिकारशाही f (adhikārśāhī)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: اقتدارگرایی (fa) (eqtedârgarâyi)
• Polish: autorytaryzm (pl)
• Portuguese: autoritarismo (pt) m
• Romanian: autoritarism (ro) n
• Russian: авторитари́зм (ru) m (avtoritarízm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ауторитаризам m

  Roman: autoritarizam m

• Slovak: autoritarizmus m
• Slovene: avtoritarizem m
• Spanish: autoritarismo (es) m
• Swedish: auktoritarism
• Tajik: иқтидоргароӣ (iqtidorgaroi), авторитаризм (avtoritarizm)
• Thai: ลัทธิอำนาจนิยม (lát-tí am-nâat ní-yom)
• Turkish: otoriteryanizm
• Turkmen: awtoritarizm
• Ukrainian: авторитари́зм m (avtorytarýzm)
• Uzbek: avtoritarizm (uz)
• Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa chuyên chế (主義專制)

References

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