Oppress
[ə'pres] or [ə'prɛs]
Definition
(verb.) come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority; 'The government oppresses political activists'.
Typed by Allan--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty.
(v. t.) To ravish; to violate.
(v. t.) To put down; to crush out; to suppress.
(v. t.) To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.
Checked by Jeannette
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Overburden, crush, overwhelm, overpower, weigh heavily upon, bear hard upon.[2]. Persecute, wrong, maltreat, treat cruelly, tyrannize over.
Typed by Corinne
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Burden, grind, weigh_down, persecute, aggrieve, maltreat, abuse, overbear,constrain
ANT:Encourage, support, patronize, assist, befriend
Checker: Lucy
Definition
v.t. to press against or upon: to use severely: to burden: to lie heavy upon: to constrain: to overpower: to treat unjustly: to load with heavy burdens.—n. Oppress′ion act of oppressing or treating unjustly or harshly: severity: cruelty: state of being oppressed: misery: hardship: injustice: dullness of spirits: (Shak.) pressure.—adj. Oppress′ive tending to oppress: overburdensome: treating with severity or injustice: heavy: overpowering: difficult to bear.—adv. Oppress′ively.—ns. Oppress′iveness; Oppress′or one who oppresses.
Inputed by Elsa
Examples
- It can never be the interest of the unproductive class to oppress the other two classes. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- My mother desires her very best compliments and regards, and a thousand thanks, and says you really quite oppress her. Jane Austen. Emma.
- The sovereign himself can never have either interest or inclination to pervert the order of justice, or to oppress the great body of the people. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- I don't like favors, they oppress and make me feel like a slave. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Some fearful hours went over me: indescribably was I torn, racked and oppressed in mind. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- A gloomy Fate had oppressed her there. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Then, as I looked up at it, while it dripped, it seemed to my oppressed conscience like a phantom devoting me to the Hulks. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- She was coughing most dreadfully, and her breath was still more oppressed than my own. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Astonishment, apprehension, and even horror, oppressed her. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- When Mr. Hale came in, Margaret went out, oppressed with gloom, and seeing no promise of brightness on any side of the horizon. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- It oppressed his mind. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- So she went on, the air around her pulsating silently, and oppressing the earth with lassitude. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- It neither favours the great, nor oppresses the smaller dealer. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- It oppresses me yet, to think of it. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- But he is generally melancholy and despairing; and sometimes he gnashes his teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Give me your confidence, Jane, he said: relieve your mind of any weight that oppresses it, by imparting it to me. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
Checker: Valerie