JACKBOOTED Synonyms: 41 Similar and Opposite Words

jackbooted

adjective

Definition of jackbooted

as in totalitarian

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of jackbooted Karol let those lines here serve as her brief indictment of the present, jackbooted environment around immigration and repression in the United States. — Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2026 Hungary under his rule is far from a jackbooted dictatorship, but its democracy is diverging markedly from that of many of its partners in the European Union. — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2018 Was Rizzo a jackbooted tyrant who went out of his way to punish blacks and gays? — David Gambacorta, Philly.com, 22 Aug. 2017 For some, the racist taunts of the past few days recalled a time when jackbooted members of the far-right National Front taunted immigrants on the streets of Britain in the 1980s, during the painful deindustrialization of the Thatcher era. — Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, 27 June 2016

Recent Examples of Synonyms for jackbooted

Adjective

The foundation’s goal is to memorialize those killed by communist regimes and pursue freedom for people still living under totalitarian rule.

— Anna Maria Barry-Jester, ProPublica, 17 July 2026
Navratilova defected from Czechoslovakia to the United States in 1975 at 18 years old, leaving a totalitarian regime to embrace American culture.

— Makena Gera, PEOPLE, 26 June 2026

Definition of totalitarian

Adjective

This stretch of eastern Long Island has long been a respite for New Yorkers seeking a seaside reprieve from the oppressive heat.

— Elise Taylor, Vogue, 7 Aug. 2026
Alongside health advice, state media has repeatedly returned to a familiar propaganda theme — Kim’s willingness to endure the same oppressive weather faced by ordinary North Koreans.

— Reuters, NBC news, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of oppressive

Adjective

Reliable polling remains scarce under the country’s authoritarian system.

— Eric Cortellessa, Time, 30 July 2026
And both men, despite misgivings among parts of their own populations about their corrupt and authoritarian tendencies, were largely welcomed in the West as reformers and promising economic partners.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 July 2026

Definition of authoritarian

Adjective

Ayatollah Khomeini portrayed the shah as the tyrannical Yazid and himself as a Husayn-like figure returning from exile to save the Iranian people from injustice.

— Iqbal Akhtar, The Conversation, 31 July 2026
The Hawaiians viewed the new rules as tyrannical; those with the disease were wont to hide in the hills of the islands, forever on the run.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 July 2026

Definition of tyrannical

Adjective

Loss of credibility leads to loss of legitimacy in a despotic regime.

— Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
The pretence of an absolute, irresistible, despotic power, existing in every government somewhere, is incompatible with the first principle of natural right.

— Ann Manov, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026

Definition of despotic

Adjective

In Russia, czarist monuments were replaced by statues of Communist leaders, which in turn were torn down — statues of Stalin also fell in Hungary, Georgia and Albania.

— Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2026
Compared to their forerunners in the tsarist era, with their party congresses held abroad, their executive committees, and their active recruitment in imperial Russia’s universities, Soviet dissidents remained a comparatively small and informal conglomeration of activists.

— Benjamin Nathans September 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025

Definition of czarist

Adjective

All of this is manna for autocratic leaders, who base much of their domestic propaganda on claims of Western weakness and hypocrisy.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 July 2026
My answer focuses on the role of autocratic political elites – that is, the party officials, military officers and other regime insiders who control the state.

— José Kaire, The Conversation, 17 July 2026

Definition of autocratic

Adjective

These tyrannous tabbies don’t understand that canning is not exclusively for wet food.

— Julie Klausner, Vulture, 27 Dec. 2024
The same study posited that Fela was not the only popular musician who confronted the military and tyrannous leaders of Nigeria between independence in 1960 and Fela’s passing in 1997.

— Garhe Osiebe, Quartz Africa, 21 Feb. 2021

Definition of tyrannous

Browse Nearby Words

jackasses

jackbooted

jacked (up)

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“Jackbooted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jackbooted. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of jackbooted

adjective

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