Standard Lemma guide

oppressor

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • CMU ARPABET: AH0 P R EH1 S ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Someone who oppresses another or others.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a person of authority who subjects others to undue pressures

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: unpleasant person, disagreeable person

Narrower terms: authoritarian, dictator, meanie, meany, unkind person, switcher, whipper, tormentor, tormenter, persecutor, torturer

History

Etymology

From Middle English oppressour, from Old French opressor and Latin oppressor; equivalent to oppress + -or.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: ظَالِم (ẓālim) — someone who oppresses others
  • Bulgarian: потисник (potisnik) — someone who oppresses others
  • Bulgarian: тиранин (tiranin) — someone who oppresses others
  • Catalan: opressor — someone who oppresses others
  • Chinese Mandarin: 壓迫者 /压迫者 (yāpòzhě) — someone who oppresses others
  • Czech: utlačovatel — someone who oppresses others
  • Czech: utiskovatel — someone who oppresses others
  • Dutch: onderdrukker — someone who oppresses others
  • Finnish: sortaja — someone who oppresses others
  • French: oppresseur — someone who oppresses others
  • Galician: opresor — someone who oppresses others
  • German: Unterdrücker — someone who oppresses others
  • Hebrew: עָרִיץ ('aríts) — someone who oppresses others
  • Hebrew: נוֹגֵשׂ (nogés) — someone who oppresses others
  • Hungarian: elnyomó — someone who oppresses others
  • Japanese: 圧制者 (asseisha) — someone who oppresses others
  • Kazakh: езуші (ezuşı) — someone who oppresses others
  • Macedonian: по́тисник (pótisnik) — someone who oppresses others
  • Macedonian: ти́ран (tíran) — someone who oppresses others
  • Macedonian: ти́ранин (tíranin) — someone who oppresses others
  • Macedonian: угне́тувач (ugnétuvač) — someone who oppresses others
  • Polish: gnębiciel — someone who oppresses others
  • Polish: ciemięzca — someone who oppresses others
  • Portuguese: opressor — someone who oppresses others
  • Punjabi: ਜਾਬਰ (jābar) — someone who oppresses others
  • Punjabi: ਜ਼ਾਲਮ (zālam) — someone who oppresses others
  • Russian: угнета́тель (ugnetátelʹ) — someone who oppresses others
  • Spanish: opresor — someone who oppresses others
  • Swedish: förtryckare — someone who oppresses others
  • Ukrainian: гноби́тель (hnobýtelʹ) — someone who oppresses others
  • Ukrainian: гноби́телька (hnobýtelʹka) — someone who oppresses others
  • Ukrainian: понево́лювач (ponevóljuvač) — someone who oppresses others
  • Ukrainian: понево́льник (ponevólʹnyk) — someone who oppresses others