tyrant
Americannoun
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tyrants
plural
noun
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a person who governs oppressively, unjustly, and arbitrarily; despot
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any person who exercises authority in a tyrannical manner
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anything that exercises tyrannical influence
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(esp in ancient Greece) a ruler whose authority lacked the sanction of law or custom; usurper
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing tyrant
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act III
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Ancient Greece - Introductory
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Much Ado About Nothing
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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:
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
The newly identified species has been named Tyrannoroter heberti, which means Hebert's tyrant digger, in recognition of its discoverer, Brian Hebert.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 11, 2026
He was not brilliant, but he was no tyrant.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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It follows the Pope's warning earlier this month that the world is being "ravaged by a handful of tyrants" as he criticised the cost of war during a visit to Cameroon.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
A tyrant, in this reading, put other tyrants out of business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 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
“Dictators, tyrants and kings build monumental architecture to buttress their own egos, which is called authoritarian monumentalism,” Gilmore writes.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 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
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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.