How to Use despot in a Sentence

despot

noun
  • The company is run by a benevolent despot.
  • He was a successful basketball coach, but many people regarded him as a petty despot.
  • Although those who survived would pick up the pieces, the tyrants knew that their futures as ruthless despots were imperiled.
    Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 14 Mar. 2024
  • Nick Offerman is the three-term authoritarian despot who tore the country apart.
    Zoe Guy, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2024
  • Go back to Machiavelli and The Prince, and the idea of the benign despot.
    Thomas Barrie, A-LIST, 9 Apr. 2018
  • The despot’s foul play was apparent off the pitch, too.
    The Economist, 11 June 2020
  • The free press is the despot’s enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy.
    Sarah Gray, Fortune, 17 Jan. 2018
  • Vladimir Putin, the cunning despot and former KGB agent,...
    Gregg Opelka, WSJ, 7 May 2019
  • On the non-reformist side, the things that have led people to call him a brutal despot.
    CBS News, 14 Oct. 2020
  • In 2011 mass protests led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, a dreary despot.
    The Economist, 22 Mar. 2018
  • Daly is a despot in the game, and the woman who saves the day happens to be played by Milioti herself.
    Rodney Ho, ajc, 29 Mar. 2021
  • On the contrary, after three meetings the despot is a firm buddy.
    The Economist, 4 July 2019
  • Stalin was a man of gulags and firing squads, a poster villain for the dangers posed by despots.
    Jeffrey Fleishman, latimes.com, 6 Mar. 2018
  • The archive painstakingly preserves a George who is more than a despot or a madman.
    Sara Georgini, Smithsonian, 30 Jan. 2017
  • The archive painstakingly preserves a George who is more than a despot or a madman.
    Sara Georgini, Smithsonian, 30 Jan. 2017
  • On the one hand, Putin cannot allow a despot to be overthrown in his sphere of influence, lest Russians be inspired to do the same.
    Abraham Mahshie, Washington Examiner, 30 Sep. 2020
  • This is from January 2022: Kara-Murza is not one who thinks that Russia is destined to be ruled by despots.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 15 Sep. 2023
  • In the strength column, the move puts new teeth behind the EU’s earlier measures to distance itself from the regime of despot Nicolás Maduro.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 7 Feb. 2019
  • And the young despot does not weather embarrassment well.
    Charlie Campbell, Time, 1 Feb. 2018
  • Two are flotsam from the former Soviet Union, the despots of Belarus and Turkmenistan.
    The Economist, 8 Apr. 2020
  • But in 2011 the Arab spring erupted, and Arab despots responded by muzzling their critics.
    The Economist, 20 July 2017
  • Indeed, the world's eyes have been opened to a despot's perverse plot to crush a sovereign nation every step of the muddied way.
    Carrie Cordero, CNN, 24 Feb. 2022
  • Their social media platforms can change the course of despots and democracies.
    Dave Lieber, Dallas News, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Facebook, clearly, is a tool for despots and the opposition.
    Alex Shephard, New Republic, 26 Jan. 2018
  • Meanwhile, why hasn’t anyone called her out on her love affair with despot Bashar al-Assad?
    Michael Arceneaux, Essence, 16 Oct. 2019
  • Such horrors are why most countries outlawed the use of chemical weapons long ago—and why Syria’s despot flouts that ban.
    The Economist, 12 Apr. 2018
  • Their attacks on the Play-Doh despot were belated and pathetic.
    Joe Klein, Washington Post, 8 July 2022
  • Yet unlike in Sudan, where protests forced out a veteran despot, Omar al-Bashir, there are few young folk left in Eritrea.
    The Economist, 11 July 2019
  • But this time, the despot, the demagogue, and the war-crimes advocate had something unusual in common.
    William Saletan, Slate Magazine, 20 Sep. 2017
  • On the other stand secularists, liberals, and the Kurds of the south-east, who see him as a corrupt and repressive despot.
    The Economist, 28 June 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'despot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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