Oppression

//əˈpɹɛʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. countable, uncountable

    "Oh, by what plots, by what forswearings, betrayings, oppressions, imprisonments, tortures, poisonings, and under what reasons of state and politic subtilty, have these forenamed kings […] pulled the vengeance of God upon themselves […]"

  2. 2
    the act of subjugating by cruelty wordnet
  3. 3
    The act of oppressing, or the state of being oppressed. countable, uncountable

    "Extreme freedom is followed by extreme oppression, said Plato."

  4. 4
    a feeling of being oppressed wordnet
  5. 5
    A feeling of being oppressed. countable, uncountable

    "Our oppression was lifted by the reappearance of the sun."

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  1. 6
    the state of being kept down by unjust use of force or authority: wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abuseafflictionairlessnessanguishargumentum baculinumbale

Example

More examples

"She reached against oppression."

Etymology

From Middle English oppression, from Old French oppression, from Latin oppressiō (“a pressing down, violence, oppression”), from opprimō; see oppress.

Related phrases

Oppression Olympicssilence is oppressiontriple oppression

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.