totalitarian en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˌtoʊtəlɪˈtɛɹiən/ (General-American)
- /ˌtəʊtalɪˈtɛəɹiən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Italian totalitario (“complete, absolute, totalitarian”) + -an. Equivalent to totality + -arian.
Meanings
-
Of or relating to a system of government where the people have virtually no authority and the state wields absolute control of every aspect of the country, socially, financially, and politically.
The divine truth is stronger than totalitarian falsehoods.
Only history can tell us where China will go from here. The Chinese leadership's brutal crackdown on students seeking fundamental democratic rights makes it difficult to chart the future. Those brave students who laid down their lives against the tanks of Tiananmen Square confirmed what I'd always believed: that no totalitarian society can bottle up the instinctive drive of men and women to be free, and that once you give a captive people a little freedom, they'll demand still more.
1990, Ronald Reagan, An American Life, Pocket Books, →ISBN, pages 372–373:Had I travelled the same route by train (the Trans-Siberian Express, say), it would have taken me a week to get there - enough time to notice that the clocks at all the stations along the way (as well as at all other stations in the totalitarian USSR) stubbornly stuck to Moscow Time.
2025 November 12, Vitali Vitaliev, “Time travelling”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 68:Well, last night these two bouncers / And one of 'em's alright, the other one's the scary one / His way or no way, totalitarian
2006, Alex Turner, “From The Ritz To The Rubble”, in Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, performed by Arctic Monkeys:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most totalitarian | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more totalitarian | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Deriveds
nontotalitarian · globalitarian · totalitarianization · totalitarianist · brutalitarian · antitotalitarian · totalitarianize
Translations (59)
lv totalitārs (related to the system of government) · hi सर्वसत्तावादी (related to the system of government) · tr totaliter (related to the system of government) · th เผด็จการ (related to the system of government) · fi totalitaarinen (related to the system of government) · hy տոտալիտար (related to the system of government) · tk totalitar (related to the system of government) · cs totalitní (related to the system of government) · sq totalitar (related to the system of government) · ar شُمُولِيّ (related to the system of government) · ky тоталитардык (related to the system of government) · nl totalitair (related to the system of government) · ru тоталита́рный (related to the system of government) · de totalitär (related to the system of government) · kmr totalîter (related to the system of government) · pl totalny (related to the system of government) · sh totalitarni (related to the system of government) · ja 全体主義的 (related to the system of government) · es totalitario (related to the system of government) · kk тоталитарлық (related to the system of government) · sl totalitarni (related to the system of government) · it totalitario (related to the system of government) · pms totalitari (related to the system of government) · bg тоталита́рен (related to the system of government) · he טוֹטָלִיטָרִי (related to the system of government) · mk тоталита́рен (related to the system of government) · fur totalitari (related to the system of government) · fa توتالیتر (related to the system of government) · id totaliter (related to the system of government) · nl totalitaire (related to the system of government) · ms totalitarian (related to the system of government) · uz totalitarlik (related to the system of government) · da totalitær (related to the system of government) · nb totalitær (related to the system of government) · ca totalitari (related to the system of government) · ko 전체주의적 (related to the system of government) · sh тоталитарни (related to the system of government) · et totalitaarne (related to the system of government) · gl totalitario (related to the system of government) · sv totalitär (related to the system of government) · ka ტოტალიტარული (related to the system of government) · az totalitar (related to the system of government) · uk тоталіта́рний (related to the system of government) · be таталіта́рны (related to the system of government) · nn totalitær (related to the system of government) · uz totalitar (related to the system of government) · cmn 極權主義的 /极权主义的 (related to the system of government) · el ολοκληρωτικός (related to the system of government) · pt totalitário (related to the system of government) · hu totalitárius (related to the system of government) · sk totalitný (related to the system of government) · lv totalitārais (related to the system of government) · fr totalitaire (related to the system of government) · hy ամբողջատիրական (related to the system of government) · ro totalitar (related to the system of government) · tg тоталитарӣ (related to the system of government) · lt totalitarinis (related to the system of government) · pl totalitarny (related to the system of government) · eo totalisma (related to the system of government)