Tyrant
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession. historical
"To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice, That Henry liueth still."
- 2 a cruel and oppressive dictator wordnet
- 3 Any monarch or governor. obsolete
"Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria."
- 4 any person who exercises power in a cruel way wordnet
- 5 A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
"Tyrannes...be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 in ancient Greece, a ruler who had seized power without legal right to it wordnet
- 7 Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly. broadly
"A plague vpon the Tyrant that I serue"
- 8 A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly. broadly
"I was a blasphemar, and a persecuter, and a tyraunt."
- 9 The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
"The Tyrant... The courage of this little Bird is singular."
- 1 To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical. intransitive, obsolete
"Let thy judgment be king, but not tyrant over it"
- 2 To tyrannize. obsolete, transitive
- 1 Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant. uncommon
"He was most tirant & cruell of all emperours."
Example
More examples"The depravity of the king's deeds led the people to believe he was nothing more than a tyrant that needed to be overthrown."
Etymology
From Middle English tyraunt, tiraunt, tyrant, tyrante, from Old French tyrant, from the addition of a terminal -t to tiran (cp. French tyran) via a back-formation related to the development of French present participles out of the Latin -ans form, from Latin tyrannus (“despot”), from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos, “usurper, monarch, despot”), of uncertain origin.