Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority.
- transitive verb To cause to feel worried or depressed.
- transitive verb Obsolete To overwhelm or crush.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To press against or upon.
- To press unduly upon or against; overburden; weigh down, literally or figuratively: as, oppressed with care or anxiety; oppressed with fear.
- To overpower or overcome; overbear or overwhelm; suppress; subdue.
- To make languid; affect with lassitude: as, oppressed with the heat of the weather.
- To sit or lie heavy on: as, excess of food oppresses the stomach.
- 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.
- To ravish. Chaucer.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty.
- transitive verb obsolete To ravish; to violate.
- transitive verb obsolete To put down; to crush out; to suppress.
- transitive verb To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb obsolete Physically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to
smother ,crush . - verb transitive To
keep down byforce - verb transitive To make
sad orgloomy
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cause to suffer
- verb come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Tell him that it's been a way for some people to control other people if he knows the word oppress, I'd say oppress -- a way for some people to oppress other people.
Fairy Tales delagar 2007
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To oppress is bad enough, but to love to do so is much worse.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721
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It is said that the oppressor shall be depress though by people praised, and that the oppress is at rest though by people blamed.
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Polite palaver takes unstinted hours, and the sauntering of the people through the street emphasizes the impression that no business calls oppress them.
Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic Sidney Lewis Gulick 1902
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Nothing of this kind your friends have done, because they are solemnly pledged to do nothing of this kind; because, to tolerate all religions, and to equalise civil rights to all sects, is to oppose some of the worst passions of our nature -- to plunder and to oppress is to gratify them all.
Political Pamphlets George Saintsbury 1889
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The US originally avoided the use of tanks in Afghanistan precisely to avoid comparisons to the Soviet occupation, however last month it was announced that main battle tanks were being deployed to Helmand, although according to a US Colonel they won't be used to 'oppress' the Afghans.
James Denselow: Haunted by the Soviet Afghan Legacy James Denselow 2010
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Religion does not "oppress" women, it enforces antiquated gender roles.
TEXAS FAITH: Do religions oppress women? | RELIGION Blog | dallasnews.com 2010
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The really big guys want to "oppress" and they will do everything in their power to do so!
Norman Horowitz: What Is the Use Of Having Power If You Don't Abuse It? 2009
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The majority of Muslims seem to believe that hostility to Christianity from Muslims is currently justified precisely because Christians and, especially, Jews "oppress" Muslims and "drive them from their homes."
Muslim scholars being ecumenical? Mike L 2007
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The majority of Muslims seem to believe that hostility to Christianity from Muslims is currently justified precisely because Christians and, especially, Jews "oppress" Muslims and "drive them from their homes."
Archive 2007-10-01 Mike L 2007
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