turnkey tyranny

noun

An institutional, legal, and technical infrastructure — particularly mass surveillance, data collection, and centralized state power — that is built up to a point where it is likely to be abused for authoritarian ends, or could be activated by any government so inclined with little additional effort.

“Civil-liberties advocates warned that the expanding surveillance apparatus had created turnkey tyranny.”

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Meanings

nounturnkey tyranny (uncountable)
  1. uncountablegovernmentAn institutional, legal, and technical infrastructure — particularly mass surveillance, data collection, and centralized state power — that is built up to a point where it is likely to be abused for authoritarian ends, or could be activated by any government so inclined with little additional effort.

    Civil-liberties advocates warned that the expanding surveillance apparatus had created turnkey tyranny.

    1 more example

    And it will be turnkey tyranny.

    2016 November 10, Alex Hern, “Worried about the NSA under Trump? Here's how to protect yourself”, in The Guardian

Origin

From turnkey + tyranny.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

turnkey tyranny. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turnkey%20tyranny

MLA

“turnkey tyranny.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turnkey%20tyranny. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “turnkey tyranny,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turnkey%20tyranny.

Source: turnkey tyranny on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.