English
totalitarian
Totalitarian comes from Italian totalitario ‘complete, absolute, totalitarian’.
- Italianc. 1300–presenttotalitario‘complete, absolute, totalitarian’
- Englishearliest quotation 1990totalitarian
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Italianc. 1300–presenttotalitario‘complete, absolute, totalitarian’
- Englishearliest quotation 1990totalitarian
Earliest quotation: 1990, Ronald Reagan, An American Life: “Only history can tell us where China will go…”
Formed from -an
Every English word from Italian totalitario
Today it means
adj Of or relating to a system of government where the people have virtually no authority and the state wields absolute control of every aspect of the country, socially, financially, and politically.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Italian totalitario / totalitarian