tyrant

American  

[tahy-ruhnt] / ˈtaɪ rənt /

noun

• tyrants
  plural

1. a sovereign or other ruler who uses power oppressively or unjustly.

   Synonyms:

   dictator, autocrat, despot

2. any person in a position of authority who exercises power oppressively or despotically.

3. a tyrannical or compulsory influence.

4. an absolute ruler, especially one in ancient Greece or Sicily.

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tyrant British  

/ ˈtaɪrənt /

noun

1. a person who governs oppressively, unjustly, and arbitrarily; despot

2. any person who exercises authority in a tyrannical manner

3. anything that exercises tyrannical influence

4. (esp in ancient Greece) a ruler whose authority lacked the sanction of law or custom; usurper

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• undertyrant
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tyrants
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tyrant

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English tirant, from Old French, earlier tiran (with the addition of t by association with -ant ( def. ) ), from Latin tyrannus, from Greek týrannos, of uncertain origin, perhaps Anatolian

Explanation

If you accuse your parents of being tyrants, you are saying they abuse their control of you — they are cruel, overly restrictive of your freedoms, and unfair. A tyrant is a ruler who is cruel and unjust. Here's an idea for a game: list all the tyrants in history and vote for the worst tyrant of all time. Don't limit yourself to 20th or 21st century ones like Hitler and Stalin and Saddam Hussein. Maybe put Attila the Hun on your list. You could also name a few minor tyrants in your life, such as your boss or another person with unreasonable demands.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tyrant tyrants

Demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos estimates it is now as low as eight million, only slightly more than 67 years ago, when Fidel Castro declared, "The tyrant has fled... the revolution has triumphed!"

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

The framers of the Constitution “did not want a tyrant, a monarch, a demagogue.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

But postwar Germany, unlike France after Napoleon, had no victory to celebrate and no one left who was eager to honor the fallen tyrant.

From Salon ● May 3, 2026

But she also concludes that George III wasn’t a tyrant, just a king “ill advised by ministers obsessed by debt,” and the unavoidable fact that their empire, expanding for centuries, was now shrinking.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2026

“Perhaps. Or ought one to say the tyrant? And then again we do have to admit that he has a quantity of vices.”

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Pope Leo has criticised leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was "being ravaged by a handful of tyrants" in unusually forceful comments during a visit to Cameroon.

From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026

Having suffered through the rule of tyrants in the late sixth century, they imposed reforms designed to prevent another such period.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 2026

Shortly after Museveni took power in 1986, ending years of bloodshed and chaos under murderous tyrants, the young president mused that leaders overstaying their welcome lay at the heart of Africa's problems.

From Barron's ● Jan. 12, 2026

Humans have laughed at tyrants going back to the days of the ancient Greeks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025

A prosperous city-state on the east side of the island of Sicily, Syracuse had been muddling along for years under a succession of tyrants.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Related Words

• autocrat
• bully
• despot
• dictator
• oppressor