How to Use illiberal in a Sentence

illiberal

adjective
Definition of illiberalnext
Synonyms for illiberalnext
  • So the illiberal left and reactionary right find other ways.
    — Andrew Sullivan, Daily Intelligencer, 20 Oct. 2017
  • Their fathers, too, have echoed each other’s illiberal agendas.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2018
  • In the Western World, illiberal democracy and far-right nationalism are again on the rise.
    — Lincoln Michel, GQ, 17 Feb. 2018
  • Americans against the illiberal siren song, but the norm-watching political scientist in him can’t help being worried.
    — Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Critics recognized the virtuosity of the prose and also, in the stereotypes and the gleeful trampling on taboos, an illiberal malice.
    — Janan Ganesh, Town & Country, 8 Dec. 2017
  • And in Eastern Europe, in places like Poland and Hungary, the trend towards outright illiberal democracy is even stronger.
    — Annabelle Timsit, The Atlantic, 27 Oct. 2017
  • Many conservatives believe that universities and colleges have become illiberal spaces that stifle free speech.
    — Eddie S. Glaude, Time, 28 Sep. 2017
  • Cercas is a man of the Left (though not the illiberal Left).
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 20 Apr. 2020
  • Saudi Arabia will not be the first illiberal regime to host the IGF.
    — Justin Ling, WIRED, 11 Oct. 2023
  • Voting Trump is unlikely to break the back of the illiberal Left.
    — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 27 Oct. 2020
  • That kind of state control may be over, even in illiberal Hungary.
    — Jason Farago, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2024
  • In the meantime, Xi has steered the country in even more illiberal direction.
    — Laignee Barron / Hong Kong, Time, 4 June 2019
  • The one problem with illiberal democracy is that there is no such thing.
    — Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic, 23 Mar. 2021
  • The problem is on both sides: The voters have become more illiberal and the elites have become less responsive.
    — Mickey Edwards, latimes.com, 22 Mar. 2018
  • This coalition ran the gamut from the libertarian to the deeply illiberal, but its factions had enough in common for the top brass to keep things moving along.
    — The Economist, 19 Apr. 2018
  • But many of those worried over the state of campuses are almost resigned to the idea that the forces of illiberal intolerance have won.
    — Stuart Taylor Jr. and Edward Yingling, WSJ, 17 Oct. 2021
  • When illiberal forces are on the march, the education system is always in their sights.
    — Ruth Ben-Ghiat, CNN, 14 Oct. 2021
  • At best, PiS’s illiberal reforms might be reversed by the next party that wins an election.
    — The Economist, 21 Apr. 2018
  • The beau ideal of illiberal democracy is, of course, Viktor Orbán of Hungary, who outlined the term in a 2014 speech.
    — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 31 Jan. 2024
  • When that form of consent takes an illiberal turn, then it’s no longer called democracy; it’s called populism.
    — Patrick J. Deneen, Harper’s Magazine , 5 Jan. 2023
  • These are the sorts of illiberal ideas that have risen in popularity.
    — Richard K. Sherwin, Baltimore Sun, 19 Jan. 2024
  • The free West has a far brighter future than illiberal alternatives ... Don’t be fooled.
    — Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner, 15 Feb. 2020
  • For younger Taiwanese, their vision of China is the one Xi has wrought, an illiberal land bent on denying their ability to choose their own leaders.
    — Amy Chang Chien, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Aug. 2022
  • For younger Taiwanese, their vision of China is the one Mr. Xi has wrought, an illiberal land bent on denying their ability to choose their own leaders.
    — New York Times, 5 Aug. 2022
  • Nevadans, the operative said, have not been immune to the illiberal rhetoric that has captured so many Americans.
    — Sue Halpern, The New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2022
  • The consensus is that American politics was far more illiberal in our past than in our present.
    — Ezra Klein, Vox, 11 Dec. 2018
  • Democrats and progressives slammed the move as inhumane and illiberal.
    — Matthew Continetti, National Review, 24 Apr. 2021
  • But the road to the dismantling of this illiberal, anti-science, racist, and now antisemitic ideology promises to be long and hard.
    — Richard T. Bosshardt, National Review, 17 Apr. 2024
  • The same is the case across Europe, as right-wing strongman figures and illiberal parties — many of them xenophobic — gain ground in places as varied as Germany and Portugal.
    — Amy King & Brian J Griffith / Made By History, TIME, 14 June 2024
  • It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow and illiberal distrust.
    — Liz Tracey, JSTOR Daily, 30 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'illiberal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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