oppression
Americannoun
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the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.
- Synonyms:
- persecution, despotism, tyranny
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an act or instance of oppressing or subjecting to cruel or unjust impositions or restraints.
-
the state of being oppressed.
-
the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, anxiety, etc.
noun
-
the act of subjugating by cruelty, force, etc or the state of being subjugated in this way
-
the condition of being afflicted or tormented
-
the condition of having something lying heavily on one's mind, imagination, etc
Other Word Forms
- nonoppression noun
- preoppression noun
- self-oppression noun
Etymology
Origin of oppression
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English oppressioun, from Middle French, from Latin oppressiōn-, stem of oppressiō “a pressing down,” equivalent to oppress(us) “pressed down” + -iō noun suffix; oppress, -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“The most odious of all oppressions are those which mask as justice,” he warned.
From Salon
The minority, around two million of Syria's 20 million people, suffered decades of oppression under the Assad family's rule.
From Barron's
The KLA emerged in the 1990s in response to growing oppression of the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo, then a Serbian province.
From Barron's
Implicit in the articles is the sense that there may be a kernel of something good in a society that enables individuals to rise above oppression.
"My whole family is over there in Venezuela, and honestly, it's tough. Really, really tough, everything that's happening there. All the hardships they're facing...all the oppression."
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
