totalitarian
toh-tal-i-TARE-ee-un
/toʊˌtælɪˈtɛːrɪən/
Relating to a system of government that is centralized, dictatorial, and requires complete subservience to the state.
More extreme than authoritarianism: a totalitarian regime seeks total control over private thoughts, culture, economy, and personal life.
The story behind the word. Coined in the 1920s by Italian anti-fascists to criticize Benito Mussolini, who surprisingly embraced the label 'totalitario' to boast that the Fascist party controlled 'everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.'
Word relationships
- dictatorial: Dictatorial describes rule by an absolute dictator, while totalitarian highlights total intrusion into all aspects of life.
- libertarian: Libertarian doctrine minimizes state control, the polar opposite of totalitarian dominance.
- pluralist: Pluralist systems foster diversity of opinion rather than enforcing a single mandatory state ideology.
Commonly confused with
- authoritarian: Authoritarian regimes demand political obedience; totalitarian regimes demand absolute control over every aspect of private life.
Word family
- totalitarianism (noun): A system of government requiring complete subservience to the state.
Collocations
- totalitarian state
- totalitarian control
- totalitarian regime
- totalitarian ideology
Idioms & expressions
- Big Brother state
- thought control
Example sentences
- "George Orwell's novel 1984 remains the definitive fictional portrait of a terrifying totalitarian regime." 20th Century History
- "Under totalitarian control, private citizens are stripped of secrecy, intimacy, and independent thought." Political Theory
Memory hook
TOTALITARIAN regimes demand TOTAL control over your entire life. Total control over every detail.
When not to use
Do not use for mild regulations or strict parental rules; reserved for absolute state domination.
Fun facts
- Hannah Arendt's 1951 landmark book 'The Origins of Totalitarianism' argued that terror and ideology are the two core pillars of total control.
Related words
Explore more words
dictate, censorship, subjugate, utopian, omnipotent, allegiance
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