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 his 1951 book, “The Rebel,” Albert Camus wrote that “every revolutionary ends up as an oppressor or a heretic.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
To keep them, he said, meant treating the victim the same as the oppressor.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2024
The workers were already resentful of their exploitation by foreign companies and their collaborators; now was an opportunity to make common cause against a hated oppressor.
From Salon ● May 4, 2024
“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
I would have felt a little giddy if Miss Marva Hendrix hadn’t soured the day by making me out to be my sisters’ oppressor.
From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia
What actual human being, assured of his right to live, would set about begging his oppressors to accept the sacrifice of his identity?
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
Everett explains that "any enslaved, imprisoned or oppressed people find a way to speak to each other in the presence of their oppressors that will not allow entry."
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2024
The lament also contains an imprecatory prayer asking God to bring judgment on David’s oppressors.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2024
Yes, it was a prison designed by our oppressors, but it also gave us a sense of self-determination and control.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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.
