1
Core meaning
A person who favours or enforces strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
Example
The authoritarian rejected independent courts and a free press.
authoritarian
/ɔːˌθɒrɪˈteəriən/ · aw-thor-ih-TAIR-ee-unnoun
A person who favours or enforces strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
Use authoritarian to express this relationship precisely: a person who favours or enforces strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
What authoritarian Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common noun frame
Use this noun in a complete noun phrase, adding the complement that identifies what it refers to when needed.
Example
Critics feared that the reformer had become an authoritarian.
3
Analytical distinction
Choose it when this exact concept matters; a related term may describe its cause, evidence, or opposite instead.
Example
An authoritarian demands obedience rather than consent.
Use authoritarian Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
The authoritarian rejected independent courts and a free press.
Critics feared that the reformer had become an authoritarian.
An authoritarian demands obedience rather than consent.
Precision Matters
Authoritarian overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
authoritarian
vs.Means a person who favours or enforces strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
autocrat
Means a ruler who holds and exercises absolute, unrestricted political power.
authoritarian
vs.Means a person who favours or enforces strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
potentate
Means a monarch, ruler, or other person who holds great political power.
authoritarian
vs.Means a person who favours or enforces strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
anarchist
Means a person who advocates abolishing coercive government or established political authority.
authoritarian
vs.Means a person who favours or enforces strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
tyranny
Means cruel, oppressive, or arbitrary rule maintained through force, fear, or threats of punishment.
Test authoritarian in Context
He demands obedience to authority and opposes personal freedom and dissent.
1
Although he held no office, the commentator's insistence that citizens obey the state without question marked him as an ___.