of or pertaining to a governmental or political system, principle, or practice in which individual freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or authority of the state, centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally accountable to the people.
3.
exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of another or of others:
an authoritarian parent.
noun
4.
a person who favors or acts according to authoritarian principles.
The director said he had coped with the authoritarian environment of his childhood by living in a world of fantasy.
The authors reveal that spanking and other authoritarian methods work against this process.
The group owns the individual; music to the ears of every authoritarian in the world.
It is there to neutralize and paralyze this state which is too strong and too authoritarian.
They also accuse him of using authoritarian tactics to stifle dissent.
Cracks are appearing in the authoritarian structure.
Simple definition, authoritarian governments tell you what not to do.
We try to find that reason and deal with it on a human, not an authoritarian level.
The first step is in admitting to being an authoritarian.
He allied himself with the church to organize society on a hierarchical and authoritarian structure.
British Dictionary definitions for authoritarian
authoritarian
/ɔːˌθɒrɪˈtɛərɪən/
adjective
1.
favouring, denoting, or characterized by strict obedience to authority
2.
favouring, denoting, or relating to government by a small elite with wide powers
3.
despotic; dictatorial; domineering
noun
4.
a person who favours or practises authoritarian policies
Derived Forms
authoritarianism, noun
Word Origin and History for authoritarian
adj.
1862, "favoring imposed order over freedom," from authority + -an. Cf. authoritative, which originally had this meaning to itself. Noun in the sense of one advocating or practicing such governance is from 1859.