oppress
Americanverb (used with object)
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to burden with cruel or unjust impositions or restraints; subject to a burdensome or harsh exercise of authority or power.
a people oppressed by totalitarianism.
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to lie heavily upon (the mind, a person, etc.).
Care and sorrow oppressed them.
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to weigh down, as sleep or weariness does.
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Archaic. to put down; subdue or suppress.
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Archaic. to press upon or against; crush.
verb
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to subjugate by cruelty, force, etc
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to afflict or torment
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to lie heavy on (the mind, imagination, etc)
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an obsolete word for overwhelm
Related Words
Oppress, depress, both having the literal meaning to press down upon, to cause to sink, are today mainly limited to figurative applications. To oppress is usually to subject (a people) to burdens, to undue exercise of authority, and the like; its chief application, therefore, is to a social or political situation: a tyrant oppressing his subjects. Depress suggests mainly the psychological effect, upon the individual, of unpleasant conditions, situations, etc., that sadden and discourage: depressed by the news. When oppress is sometimes used in this sense, it suggests a psychological attitude of more complete hopelessness: oppressed by a sense of failure.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of oppress
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English oppressen, from Middle French oppresser, from Medieval Latin oppressāre, derivative of Latin oppressus, past participle of opprimere “to squeeze, suffocate,” equivalent to op- “to, toward, against” + -primere (combining form of premere ) “to press”; see origin at op-, press 1
Explanation
When you oppress someone, you use your authority to keep them down. If you oppress people long enough, they might decide to fight back and then decide to oppress YOU. There is a saying that "power corrupts," meaning that once someone gains power, they tend to misuse it in self-serving or brutal ways. Tyrants tend to oppress those beneath them, by limiting their rights. In the fairy tale Rapunzel, the evil old woman tried to oppress Rapunzel by keeping her locked in a tower. Another use of oppress means to cause to suffer. If the ninety degree heat outside will oppress you, you should stay inside in the air conditioning.
Vocabulary lists containing oppress
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
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List 7
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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.
Behold yon mountain's hoary height Made higher with new mounts of snow:Again behold the winter's weight Oppress the labouring woods below'And streams with icy fetters boundBenumbed and cramped to solid ground.
From The Guardian • Jul. 30, 2012
These blank walls Oppress me with their weight!
From The Complete Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
I must confess that these majestic ruins Oppress me with their gloom.
From The Complete Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Observe what loads of stupid rhymes Oppress us in corrupted times; What pamphlets in a court's defence Show reason, grammar, truth, or sense?
From The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1 by Browning, William Ernst
Oh, when its agèd branches throw Thin shadows on the ground below, Shall fraud and force and iron will Oppress the weak and helpless still?
From Children's Literature A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes by Clippinger, Erle Elsworth
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.
