HETERONOMY Synonyms: 27 Similar and Opposite Words

heteronomy

noun

Definition of heteronomy

as in subjection

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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 heteronomy For this reason, the passage from Arab spring to Arab winter should be understood first and foremost as a narrative of self-determination, choice, and consequences, not as a story of heteronomy and external imposition. — New York Times, 12 May 2020

Recent Examples of Synonyms for heteronomy

Noun

The Handmaid's Tale spared no sensitivities when diving into the cruelest treatment people like June, and even Lydia, experience at the hands of a totalitarian system bent on the total subjection of women.

— Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Apr. 2026
As the man brawls with his in-laws, the boy is caught between two worlds, of male rage and female subjection.

— Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2026

Definition of subjection

Noun

Even Ursula Le Guin’s Anarres, which is haunted by the shadow of unfreedom.

— Carline Tromp, The Dial, 18 Aug. 2026
These ideas—of ceding ground, of viewing another as infinite rather than as a means to address our own unfreedom—are of no use to the industries and technologies that treat the face as a display commodity before all else.

— Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 11 July 2026

Definition of unfreedom

Noun

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been working intensively to reduce their dependence on the strait, building pipelines and investing in storage facilities to transport their oil by other routes.

— Hamidreza Azizi, Time, 29 Aug. 2026
The Pohang project is also part of a broader strategy to expand magnet manufacturing capacity while reducing dependence on China for critical rare earth magnet supply.

— Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of dependence

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heteronomies

heteronomy

het up

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“Heteronomy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heteronomy. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of heteronomy

noun

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