totalitarian
adj.adj. relating to a government that has complete power over its citizens and does not allow any opposition. You use this word to describe systems where people have no political freedom.
adj. relating to a system of government that is centralized, dictatorial, and requires complete subservience to the state. Typically describes regimes that suppress political opposition and heavily regulate public and private life.
The country is a totalitarian state where citizens cannot vote freely.
The novel describes a totalitarian society where the government watches everyone through screens and punishes anyone who disagrees.
By dismantling the independent press and centralizing all judicial authority, the newly elected president rapidly transformed the fragile democracy into a totalitarian regime.
From Italian totalitario (“complete, absolute, totalitarian”) + -an. Equivalent to totality + -arian.
Frequently collocates with nouns like 'regime', 'state', 'society', or 'government'.