autocracy

in a sentence

It was, however, an autocracy by consent, for they were united from top to bottom by a commonly held ideology whose perpetuation was the reason and justification for all their sufferings.  (source) Arthur Miller, The Crucible, 1953

A kind and generous man, Lewis Krakauer loved his five children deeply, in the autocratic way of fathers, but his worldview was colored by a relentlessly competitive nature.†  (source) Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, 1996

It was widely felt, in Savannah at least, that Adler's manner was bombastic and peremptory, that he was an autocrat, and that he stepped on toes needlessly.†  (source) John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, 1994

Helmreich wrote: The high-power distance of Colombians could have created frustration on the part of the first officer because the captain failed to show the kind of clear (if not autocratic) decision making expected in high-power distance cultures.†  (source) Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, 2008

There on the seventeenth of November 1929, Nikolai Bukharin, founding father, editor of Pravda, and last true friend of the peasant, was outmaneuvered by Stalin and ousted from the Politburo—clearing the way for a return to autocracy in all but name.†  (source) Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow, 2016

Here, excitement never entered in, voices were never raised, everyone deferred gently to the opinions of others, and, in the end, the black grizzled autocrat in the kitchen had his way.†  (source) Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, 1936

The dis—United States would fragment into several petty, squabbling autocracies, proving the contention of European monarchists and reactionaries that this harebrained experiment in democracy could not last.†  (source) James M. McPherson, What They Fought For - 1861-1865, 1994

American Intelligence has its share of vacillating autocrats, rarely communicating fully with each other.†  (source) Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity, 1980

All that concentrated power, the implosive life of the board, black and white, the autocratic beauty of winning, what a chestful of undisguisable pride—he defeated men, boys, the old and wise, the vigorous and quick, the bohemian cafe poets, friendly and smelly.†  (source) Don DeLillo, Underworld, 1997

Their common goal is the overthrow of the hateful autocracy of hetmans and admirals, and the establishment, by means of an armed uprising, of the power of the peasants' and soldiers' Soviets.†  (source) Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago, 1958

The least appearance of opposition struck fire out of the old autocrat.†  (source) Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902

Carol did desire to see the Prussian autocracy defeated; she did persuade herself that there were no autocracies save that of Prussia; she did thrill to motion-pictures of troops embarking in New York; and she was uncomfortable when she met Miles Bjornstam on the street and he croaked: "How's tricks?†  (source) Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, 1920

The government, critics said, was just trying to claim "a genocide credit" that would excuse its autocratic ways, that would allow it to avoid discussion of the crimes Tutsis had committed against Hutus.†  (source) Tracy Kidder, Strength in What Remains, 2009