Standard Lemma guide
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.
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adj
Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
Qualifier: Ancient Greece
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any monarch or governor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To tyrannize.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a cruel and oppressive dictator
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: autocrat, despot
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: dictator, potentate
Narrower terms: czar
noun
any person who exercises power in a cruel way
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
noun
in ancient Greece, a ruler who had seized power without legal right to it
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: ruler, swayer
Narrower terms: Dionysius, Dionysius the Elder
History
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.
Across languages
121 source translations are retained for this English entry.
