totalitarianism
noun
totalitarianism is spelled T-O-T-A-L-I-T-A-R-I-A-N-I-S-M: 15 letters and 8 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, totalitarianism means “A system of government in which the people have virtually no authority and the state wields absolute control, for example, a dictatorship” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of totalitarianism is totalitarianisms.
How many letters and syllables are in totalitarianism?
| Letters | 15: T-O-T-A-L-I-T-A-R-I-A-N-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 8 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,176th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is totalitarianism?
Totalitarianism appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce totalitarianism?
- US
Totalitarianism has 8 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-totalitarianism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of totalitarianism
- totalitarianisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does totalitarianism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A system of government in which the people have virtually no authority and the state wields absolute control, for example, a dictatorship.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Totalitarianism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense system where state wields absolute control:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | totalitarisme |
| German | Totalitarismus |
| Portuguese | totalitarismo |
| Spanish | totalitarismo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does totalitarianism come from?
1938, from totalitarian + -ism, modeled after Italian totalitarismo (1923, by Giovanni Amendola) and German terms such as Totalstaat (1927, The Concept of the Political, by Carl Schmitt).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).