Lexic.us

Definition of Oppress

1. Verb. Come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority. "The government oppresses political activists"

2. Verb. Cause to suffer. "Jews were persecuted in the former Soviet Union"

Definition of Oppress

1. v. t. To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty.

Definition of Oppress

1. Verb. (obsolete) Physically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To keep down by force ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To make sad or gloomy ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Oppress

1. to burden by abuse of power or authority [v -ED, -ING, -ES]

Medical Definition of Oppress

1. 1. To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty. "For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down." (Shak) "Behold the kings of the earth; how they oppress Thy chosen !" (Milton) 2. To ravish; to violate. 3. To put down; to crush out; to suppress. "The mutiny he there hastes to oppress." (Shak) 4. 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. Origin: F. Oppresser, LL. Oppressare, fr. L. Oppressus, p. P. Of opprimere; ob (see Ob-) + premere to press. See Press. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Oppress

oppositifolious opposition opposition parry opposition research oppositional oppositional disorder oppositionist oppositionists oppositions oppositipetalous

oppositisepalous oppositive oppositive case opposum opposure oppress (current term) oppressed oppresses oppressest oppresseth

oppressing oppressingly oppression oppressions oppressive oppressively oppressiveness oppressor oppressors oppressour

Literary usage of Oppress

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Works of John C. Calhoun by John Caldwell Calhoun, Richard Kenner Crallé (1851)
"Union, or clearly intended to oppress them. There are many powers, which a dominant combination of States would assume by construction^ and use for the ..."

2. Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms by Frederic Sturges Allen (1920)
"sadden, sorrow (rare); spec, agonize, torture, torment, aggrieve, trouble, oppress, afflict. Antonyms: see PLEASE, GLADDEN. grimace, n. face, mow (now rare) ..."

3. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1843)
"As these difficulties arise from the nature of the subject, they oppress, with the same insuperable weight, the philosophic and the theological disputant ..."

4. The Poetical Works of John Dryden by John Dryden (1909)
"Meantime, his father, now no father, stood, And wash'd his wounds by Tiber's yellow flood: oppress'd with anguish, panting, and o'er- spent, His fainting ..."

5. France: Her Government, Administrative, and Social Organisation (1844)
"MINISTRY OP INTERIOR AND JUSTICE; TENDING ONLY TO ENSLAVE AND oppress THE PEOPLE. THE individual liberty of a French citizen consists in a perpetual ..."

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