oppressor
Americannoun
-
oppressors
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of oppressor
First recorded in 1375–1425; oppress ( def. ) + -or 2 ( def. )
Explanation
An oppressor is any authority (a group or a person) that uses its power unjustly to keep people under control. Many rebellious teenagers view their parents as oppressors, but the word is usually used to refer to dictators. While you might complain about your oppressor, the teacher who makes you stay late to catch up on assignments you missed, a true oppressor denies basic human rights to people who live under their control. Before Partition in 1947, the citizens of India mostly viewed their British rulers as oppressors — in some cases, Indian farmers were forced by the British to grow non-food crops, causing thousands to starve. The Latin root is opprimere, "to crush or subdue."
Vocabulary lists containing oppressor
Every Falling Star
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A Night Divided
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Vocabulary from Readings 2, Unit 3
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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.
See Examples For:
In a pan-Indian context, English is an equalizer, not an oppressor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
To keep them, he said, meant treating the victim the same as the oppressor.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2024
“Somehow this narrative got mixed up that Jews are an oppressor rather than an oppressee, and I don’t know how that narrative came about,” Mark said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2023
“Daddy was always very proud of his time in the Army, even though he later understood and saw the United States military as an oppressor of our people,” says his daughter, Noemí Sánchez González.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 10, 2023
When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
The enslaved asserted the truth the oppressors feared above all: that they were actual human beings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
It’s an artistic choice that also blurs boundaries between oppressed and oppressors, revealing the complicity of the American Dream.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
The victims, he said, should not be treated the same way as the oppressors.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2024
The lament also contains an imprecatory prayer asking God to bring judgment on David’s oppressors.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2024
I walked around Algiers, hearing rank-and-file expressions of hatred for America for supporting the oppressors of the Algerians.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
