totalitarianism
10 synonyms for totalitarianism, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A form of government in which the state has complete control and ordinary people have almost no power, as under a dictator.
Synonyms
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Etymology
Dates from 1938, formed from totalitarian and -ism, modelled on the Italian totalitarismo (1923, coined by Giovanni Amendola) and on German terms such as Totalstaat (1927, from The Concept of the Political, by Carl Schmitt).
Full origin of totalitarianism →