oppress
Definitions
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WordNet 3.6
- v oppress come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority "The government oppresses political activists"
- v oppress cause to suffer "Jews were persecuted in the former Soviet Union"
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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- Oppress To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty. "For thee, oppressèd king, am I cast down.""Behold the kings of the earth; how they oppress Thy chosen!"
- Oppress To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.
- Oppress To put down; to crush out; to suppress. "The mutiny he there hastes to oppress ."
- Oppress To ravish; to violate.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- oppress To press against or upon.
- oppress To press unduly upon or against; overburden; weigh down, literally or figuratively: as, oppressed with care or anxiety; oppressed with fear.
- oppress To overpower or overcome; overbear or overwhelm; suppress; subdue.
- oppress To make languid; affect with lassitude: as, oppressed with the heat of the weather.
- oppress To sit or lie heavy on: as, excess of food oppresses the stomach.
- oppress To load or burden with cruel, unjust, or unreasonable impositions or restraints; treat with injustice or undue severity; wield authority over in a burdensome, harsh, or tyrannical manner; keep down by an unjust exercise of power.
- oppress To ravish. Chaucer. Synonyms To weigh heavily upon, bear hard upon.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- v.t Oppress o-pres′ to press against or upon: to use severely: to burden: to lie heavy upon: to constrain: to overpower: to treat unjustly: to load with heavy burdens
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Quotations
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“In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men.” -
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” -
“Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.” -
“One might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses and oppresses.” -
“Niggerization is the result of oppression -- and it doesn't just apply to the black people. Old people, poor people, and students can also get niggerized.”
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“All oppression creates a state of war.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
F. oppresser, LL. oppressare, fr. L. oppressus, p. p. of opprimere,; ob,see Ob-) + premere, to press. See Press
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Fr.,—L. opprimĕre, oppressum—ob, against, premĕre, to press.
Usage
In literature:
A fig for intellectual eminence if it make a man oppress his inferiors and bully his equals!
"Robert Elsmere" by Mrs. Humphry Ward
In solving it we are working not only for ourselves, but also for many other over-burdened and oppressed beings.
"The Jewish State" by Theodor Herzl
There were brotherhoods of the young nobles, pledged to support each other in deeds of oppression.
"Historic Tales, Volume 11 (of 15)" by Charles Morris
A temper naturally fearless was stung to bravado by the sense of oppression.
"Stray Studies from England and Italy" by John Richard Greene
The summer is always hot, but not oppressive.
"Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests" by J. J. von Tschudi
The flat, ominous silence that followed was unreal and oppressive.
"'Firebrand' Trevison" by Charles Alden Seltzer
Oppression in Bengal was to him the same thing as oppression in the streets of London.
"Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3)" by Thomas Babington Macaulay
What is it that causes slavery and oppression?
"Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments" by Various
It is true that William oppressed it himself, but he saved the people from the worse oppression of the barons.
"A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3)" by Samuel Rawson Gardiner
Thus Italy holds the chain of Hungary, and Hungary, in her turn, that of Italy; and so insult is added to oppression.
"Pilgrimage from the Alps to the Tiber" by James Aitken Wylie
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In poetry:
Such are my pains! such my distress!
Such heavy woes my soul oppress!
Such is the state I now am in,
Each hour tormented for my sin!
Such heavy woes my soul oppress!
Such is the state I now am in,
Each hour tormented for my sin!
"The Complaint And The Advice Of Dives, To His Five Brethren, (Part 2), Or A Description Of Hell, An" by Rees Prichard
This a shepheard once confessed,
Who lov'd well, but was not lov'd:
Though with scorne & griefe oppressed
could not yet to change be mov'd.
Who lov'd well, but was not lov'd:
Though with scorne & griefe oppressed
could not yet to change be mov'd.
"60" by Mary Wroth
'Tis then, my Father! then I feel
My nature's weakness—and, oppressed,
Like a poor trembling child, I steal
To Thee, for safety and for rest.
My nature's weakness—and, oppressed,
Like a poor trembling child, I steal
To Thee, for safety and for rest.
"Temptation" by John Bowring
And when he sinks in death,—by care,
Or pain, or toil, or years oppressed,—
O God! remember then our prayer,
And take his spirit to thy rest.
Or pain, or toil, or years oppressed,—
O God! remember then our prayer,
And take his spirit to thy rest.
"Hymns for Ordination and Installation I" by John Pierpont
It tells me of a place of rest;
It tells me where my soul may flee:
O to the weary, faint, oppressed,
How sweet the bidding, “Come to Me.â€
It tells me where my soul may flee:
O to the weary, faint, oppressed,
How sweet the bidding, “Come to Me.â€
"With tearful eyes I look around;" by Charlotte Elliott
Yet still that hand, that brand are thine,
O Garibaldi! Ever, ever,
That hand is raised, that brand unsheathed,
The oppressed, the trampled to deliver!
O Garibaldi! Ever, ever,
That hand is raised, that brand unsheathed,
The oppressed, the trampled to deliver!
"The Isles of Greece" by Janet Hamilton
In news:
'The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in US History – and How We Can Fight Back,' by Alan Michael Collinge.
Midwest can't get any relief from oppressive heat.
Recent cases highlight NCAA's oppressive transfer policies (Steele).
AG throws oppressive interim maps into the ring to meet Feb 6 deadline.
Oppressive , bloated government, get out of my life.
Google alienates users with oppressive 'real name' policy.
So apparently I'm oppressive .
Sour grapes Apparently I'm Oppressive no more drama.
CSA ' Oppressive , Punitive,' Trucker Tells Congress.
The Crary Art Gallery is hosting events over the next two weekends which investigate some tragedies and heroics concerning art and artists in the wake of Nazi oppression and occupation.
A perfectionist teenage girl oppressed by her father rescues a cat that turns out to be a shape-shifter.
All that was needed was cultural tradition that made any thing less than self-government feel like oppression and tyranny.
One day, probably very soon, many of us will be faced with a dilemma: wear cute sandals and risk exposing busted-looking toes, or hide our feet in oppressively hot sneakers.
An employment system that only values one kind of teacher- scholar model, the one defined by a tenure track position, is oppressive and isolating to the vast majority of scholars.
There's more on Toxoplasmosis, the oppressively subtle brain parasite that 20% of us have.
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In science:
Coulomb potential, and it oppresses the exact solution of the wave equation.
New exact solution of Dirac-Coulomb equation with exact boundary condition
All men know that they die sooner than women because they are oppressed by them.
The Penna Model of Biological Aging
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