as in tyranny
a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power
warned that forfeiture of civil liberties for the sake of security would only result in the terror of totalism
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Recent Examples of totalism
Common sense and a mania for systematization, logical thinking and ideological totalism, are constantly at war in the French character, as a belief in instant happiness and a paranoia about imaginary enemies are in the American.
—
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totalism
Noun
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What happened in Anaheim a century ago shows how to combat tyranny and white supremacy — and also that the work is never really done.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2025
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The monster was the liberation from the tyranny of image.—
E. Alex Jung,
Vulture,
18 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Here’s a Brazilian film about fighting fascism at home with big and small acts of resistance.—
Cristina Escobar,
refinery29.com,
3 Mar. 2025
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From fraught talk of cultural fascism to economic critiques of the entertainment industry, honorees and their peers predicted an uncertain but fiery future for filmmakers, cast, and crew.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
24 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The movie recounts the experiences of Eunice Paiva and her family after her husband Rubens Paiva was taken into custody during the country’s military dictatorship.—
Eliana Dockterman,
TIME,
3 Mar. 2025
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That is quite an achievement for a film which is certainly not a popcorn movie, recording the real-life story of Eunice Pavia and her reinvention of herself and rebuilding of her family after her husband, Rubens Pavia, an opponent of Brazil’s military dictatorship, disappeared after arrest in 1971.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
3 Mar. 2025
Noun
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And this particular slide into totalitarianism is a rather recent development (which gives one hope that it could be reversed).—
Christian Blauvelt,
IndieWire,
26 Jan. 2025
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With the help of grants from Jewish groups, social psychologists, sociologists, and other scholars investigated how antisemitism was connected to totalitarianism, religion and other forms of racial and ethnic stereotyping.—
Asaf Elia-Shalev,
Sun Sentinel,
9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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In our skies as in our social lives, incremental change, like ring rain, seems to work slowly, while acts of frightening absolutism seem to happen overnight.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
22 Dec. 2024
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In other words, the absolutism or the abolitionist approach to cutting out meat from our diet doesn’t work for a lot of people.—
Shalom Daniel,
Forbes,
19 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Totalism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totalism. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.
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