Standard Lemma guide

dictatorship

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australian: /ˈdɪktæɪtəʃɪp/
  • New-Zealand: /ˈdəktæɪtəʃəp/
  • Singapore: /ˈdiktetəʃip/
  • UK: /dɪkˈteɪtə(ɹ)ʃɪp/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈdɪkteɪtəɹʃɪp/
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 K T EY1 T ER0 SH IH2 P Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A type of government where absolute sovereignty is allotted to an individual or a small clique.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A government which exercises autocratic rule.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • There were no elections during Franco's dictatorship.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Any household, institution, or other organization that is run under such sovereignty or autocracy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolutism, authoritarianism, Caesarism, despotism, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate, Stalinism, totalitarianism, tyranny

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: autocracy, autarchy

Narrower terms: police state

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English dictator Proto-Germanic *skapjaną Proto-Germanic *-skapiz Proto-West Germanic *-skapi Old English -sċiepe Middle English -schipe English -ship English dictatorship From dictator + -ship.

Across languages

Translations

94 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: diktatuur — a government led by a dictator
  • Afrikaans: diktatorskap — a government led by a dictator
  • Albanian: diktaturë — a government led by a dictator
  • Arabic: دِكْتَاتُورِيَّة (diktātōriyya) — a government led by a dictator
  • Arabic: دِيكْتَاتُورِيَّة (diktātōriyya) — a government led by a dictator
  • Armenian: բռնապետություն (bṙnapetutʻyun) — a government led by a dictator
  • Armenian: դիկտատուրա (diktatura) — a government led by a dictator
  • Armenian: բռնակալություն (bṙnakalutʻyun) — a government led by a dictator
  • Asturian: dictadura — a government led by a dictator
  • Azerbaijani: diktatura — a government led by a dictator
  • Azerbaijani: diktatorluq — a government led by a dictator
  • Belarusian: дыктату́ра (dyktatúra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Breton: diktatouriezh — a government led by a dictator
  • Bulgarian: диктату́ра (diktatúra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Burmese: အာဏာရှင်စနစ် (anahrangca.nac) — a government led by a dictator
  • Carpathian Rusyn: діктату́ра (diktatúra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Catalan: dictadura — a government led by a dictator
  • Chinese Mandarin: 獨裁 /独裁 (dúcái) — a government led by a dictator
  • Chinese Mandarin: 專政 /专政 (zhuānzhèng) — a government led by a dictator
  • Czech: diktatura — a government led by a dictator
  • Danish: diktatur — a government led by a dictator
  • Dutch: dictatuur — a government led by a dictator
  • Esperanto: diktatoreco — a government led by a dictator
  • Esperanto: diktaturo — a government led by a dictator
  • Estonian: diktatuur — a government led by a dictator
  • Finnish: diktatuuri — a government led by a dictator
  • French: dictature — a government led by a dictator
  • Galician: ditadura — a government led by a dictator
  • Georgian: დიქტატურა (dikṭaṭura) — a government led by a dictator
  • German: Diktatur — a government led by a dictator
  • German: Gewaltherrschaft — a government led by a dictator
  • German: Willkürherrschaft — a government led by a dictator
  • German: Cäsarenherrschaft — a government led by a dictator
  • Greek: δικτατορία (diktatoría) — a government led by a dictator
  • Hebrew: דִּיקְטָטוּרָה (diktatúra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Hindi: तानाशाही (tānāśāhī) — a government led by a dictator
  • Hindi: अधिनायकतंत्र (adhināyaktantra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Hungarian: diktatúra — a government led by a dictator
  • Icelandic: einræði — a government led by a dictator
  • Irish: deachtóireacht — a government led by a dictator
  • Italian: dittatura — a government led by a dictator
  • Japanese: 独裁政治 (dokusaiseiji) — a government led by a dictator
  • Japanese: 独裁 (dokusai) — a government led by a dictator
  • Kazakh: өктемдік (öktemdık) — a government led by a dictator
  • Kazakh: диктатура (diktatura) — a government led by a dictator
  • Khmer: អំណាចផ្ដាច់ការ (ʼɑmnaac phdac kaa) — a government led by a dictator
  • Korean: 독재 (dokjae) — a government led by a dictator
  • Northern Kurdish: dîktatorî — a government led by a dictator
  • Kyrgyz: диктатура (diktatura) — a government led by a dictator
  • Lao: ລະບອບຜະເດັດການ (la bǭp pha det kān) — a government led by a dictator
  • Latvian: diktatūra — a government led by a dictator
  • Lithuanian: diktatūra — a government led by a dictator
  • Macedonian: диктату́ра (diktatúra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Malay: kediktatoran — a government led by a dictator
  • Malay: diktatur — a government led by a dictator
  • Manx: ardreillaght — a government led by a dictator
  • Marathi: हुकूमशाही (hukūmśāhī) — a government led by a dictator
  • Mongolian: дарангуйлал (darangujlal) — a government led by a dictator
  • Mongolian: ᠳᠠᠷᠤᠩᠭᠤᠶᠢᠯᠠᠯ (darungɣuyilal) — a government led by a dictator
  • Norman: dictatuthe — a government led by a dictator
  • Norwegian Bokmål: diktatur — a government led by a dictator
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: diktatur — a government led by a dictator
  • Occitan: dictadura — a government led by a dictator
  • Pashto: ديکتاتوري (diktātori) — a government led by a dictator
  • Pashto: ډيکټاټوري (ḍekṭāṭori) — a government led by a dictator
  • Iranian Persian: دیکْتاتوری (diktâtori) — a government led by a dictator
  • Polish: dyktatura — a government led by a dictator
  • Portuguese: ditadura — a government led by a dictator
  • Romanian: dictatură — a government led by a dictator
  • Russian: диктату́ра (diktatúra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Serbo-Croatian: диктату́ра — a government led by a dictator
  • Serbo-Croatian: diktatúra — a government led by a dictator
  • Slovak: diktatúra — a government led by a dictator
  • Slovene: diktatura — a government led by a dictator
  • Spanish: dictadura — a government led by a dictator
  • Spanish: dictaduría — a government led by a dictator
  • Swahili: udikteta — a government led by a dictator
  • Swedish: diktatur — a government led by a dictator
  • Tajik: диктатура (diktatura) — a government led by a dictator
  • Tamil: சர்வாதிகாரம் (carvātikāram) — a government led by a dictator
  • Tatar: диктатура (diktatura) — a government led by a dictator
  • Telugu: నియంతృత్వము (niyantr̥tvamu) — a government led by a dictator
  • Thai: ระบอบเผด็จการ (rá-bɔ̀ɔp-pà-dèt-gaan) — a government led by a dictator
  • Tibetan: སྲིད་དབར་སྒེར་འཛིན (srid dbar sger 'dzin) — a government led by a dictator
  • Turkish: diktatörlük — a government led by a dictator
  • Turkmen: diktatura — a government led by a dictator
  • Ukrainian: диктату́ра (dyktatúra) — a government led by a dictator
  • Urdu: آمِرِیَت (āmiriyat) — a government led by a dictator
  • Urdu: تانا شاہی (tānā śāhī) — a government led by a dictator
  • Uyghur: دىكتاتۇرا (diktatura) — a government led by a dictator
  • Uzbek: diktatura — a government led by a dictator
  • Vietnamese: chế độ độc tài — a government led by a dictator
  • Vietnamese: nền chuyên chính — a government led by a dictator
  • Yiddish: דיקטאַטור (diktatur) — a government led by a dictator
Real reading context

dictatorship in complete knowledge articles