adj
Meaning 1
Burdensome or difficult to bear.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The oppressive tax laws made it difficult to start a small company.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: grinding
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
oppressive
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/əˈpɹɛs.ɪv/
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uncommon: /əʊˈpɹɛs.ɪv/
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UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛsɪv
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CMU ARPABET: AH0 P R EH1 S IH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Tyrannical or exercising unjust power.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: geopolitics, government, political-science, politics, social-sciences
Examples
- oppressive smell
- The oppressive land-owners kept a grip on the labourers.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: authoritarian, autocratic, bossy, coercive, commanding, controlling, demanding, despotic, dictatorial, dominant, domineering, forceful, harsh, heavy-handed, iron-fisted, iron-handed, monocratic, obtrusive, oppressive, overbearing, strict, tyrannical, airy, arrogant, chesty, biggity, big-headed, blustery, boastful, lordly, bombastic, buggish, cocky, conceited, disdainful, egotistical, entitled, flatulent, flaunting, full of oneself, glorious, grandiose, hankty, haught, haughty, haut, high-handed, high-hat, high and mighty, highfalutin, hoity-toity, holier-than-thou, hubristic, hubristical, imperious, inflated, insolent, la-di-da, orgulous, ostentatious, overweening, pompous, presumptuous, pretentious, priggish, puffed up, sanctimonious, self-important, snobbish, snooty, snotty, stout, stuck up, supercilious, thrasonic, thrasonical, toploftical, toplofty, tumid, turgid, uppish, uppity, uppy, upstage, vain
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Weighing heavily on the spirit; being quite intense, excessive or overwhelming.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Will the oppressive heat of summer never end?
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 4
Hot and humid.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: climatology, meteorology, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: humid, close
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 5
marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the oppressive government
- oppressive laws
- a tyrannical parent
- tyrannous disregard of human rights
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: tyrannical, tyrannous
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 6
weighing heavily on the senses or spirit
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the atmosphere was oppressive
- oppressive sorrows
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree English oppress Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English oppressive From oppress + -ive.
Across languages
Translations
42 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: потискащ (potiskašt) — burdensome or difficult to bear
- Bulgarian: угнетяващ (ugnetjavašt) — burdensome or difficult to bear
- Finnish: raskas — burdensome or difficult to bear
- French: oppressif — burdensome or difficult to bear
- Ancient Greek: ἀχθεινός (akhtheinós) — burdensome or difficult to bear
- Hindi: दमनकारी (damankārī) — burdensome or difficult to bear
- Russian: да́вящий (dávjaščij) — burdensome or difficult to bear
- Spanish: opresivo — burdensome or difficult to bear
- Bulgarian: тираничен (tiraničen) — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Catalan: opressiu — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Finnish: sortava — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Finnish: sorto- — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- French: oppressif — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- German: oppressiv — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- German: unterdrückend — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Hindi: दमनकारी (damankārī) — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Irish: anfhorlannach — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Irish: tíoránta — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Irish: leatromach — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Portuguese: opressivo — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Portuguese: opressor — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Portuguese: oprimente — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Russian: угнета́ющий (ugnetájuščij) — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Spanish: opresivo; tiranico — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Tagalog: mapang-api — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Tagalog: mapanghamak — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Vietnamese: áp chế — tyrannical or exercising unjust power
- Bulgarian: потискащ (potiskašt) — overpowering or overwhelming
- Finnish: tukahduttava — overpowering or overwhelming
- French: oppressant — overpowering or overwhelming
- German: drückend — overpowering or overwhelming
- Māori: haitutu — overpowering or overwhelming
- Māori: pōngerengere — overpowering or overwhelming
- Russian: да́вящий (dávjaščij) — overpowering or overwhelming
- Russian: гнету́щий (gnetúščij) — overpowering or overwhelming
- Belarusian: спяко́тны (spjakótny) — weather: hot and humid
- Dutch: zwoel — weather: hot and humid
- Dutch: drukkend — weather: hot and humid
- Finnish: painostava — weather: hot and humid
- Irish: meirbh — weather: hot and humid
- Irish: marbhánta — weather: hot and humid
- Māori: haitutu — weather: hot and humid