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authoritarian

 [uh-thawr-i-tair-ee-uhn, uh-thor-]   Example Sentences Origin

au·thor·i·tar·i·an

   [uh-thawr-i-tair-ee-uhn, uh-thor-]
adjective
1.
favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom: authoritarian principles; authoritarian attitudes.
2.
of or pertaining to a governmental or political system, principle, or practice in which individual freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or authority of the state, centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally accountable to the people.
3.
exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of another or of others: an authoritarian parent.
noun
4.
a person who favors or acts according to authoritarian principles.

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Authoritarian has a plethora of syllables.
So is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Does it mean:
the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language).
an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language.
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Origin:
1875–80; authorit(y) + -arian

Related forms
au·thor·i·tar·i·an·ism, noun
an·ti·au·thor·i·tar·i·an, adjective
an·ti·au·thor·i·tar·i·an·ism, noun
non·au·thor·i·tar·i·an, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To authoritarian
Example Sentences
  • The director said he had coped with the authoritarian environment of his childhood by living in a world of fantasy.
  • The authors reveal that spanking and other authoritarian methods work against this process.
  • The group owns the individual; music to the ears of every authoritarian in the world.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
authoritarian (ɔːˌθɒrɪˈtɛərɪən)
 
—adj
1.  favouring, denoting, or characterized by strict obedience to authority
2.  favouring, denoting, or relating to government by a small elite with wide powers
3.  despotic; dictatorial; domineering
 
—n
4.  a person who favours or practises authoritarian policies
 
authori'tarianism
 
—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

authoritarian
1879 (adj.), "favoring imposed order over freedom," from authority. Cf. authoritative, which originally had this meaning to itself. Noun in the sense of one advocating or practicing such governance is from 1883. Related: Authoritarianism (1909).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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