oppress
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Middle English oppressen, from Old French oppresser, from Medieval Latin oppressare (“to press against, oppress”), frequentive of Latin opprimere, past participle oppressus (“to press against, press together, oppress”), from ob (“against”) + premere, past participle pressus (“to press”); see press.
Pronunciation [edit]
- Rhymes: -ɛs
Verb [edit]
oppress (third-person singular simple present oppresses, present participle oppressing, simple past and past participle oppressed)
- (obsolete) Physically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.x:
- Most mercilesse of women, VVyden hight, / Her other sonne fast sleeping did oppresse, / And with most cruell hand him murdred pittilesse.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.x:
- (transitive) To keep down by force
- The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.
- (transitive) To make sad or gloomy
- We were oppressed by the constant grey skies.
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
keep down by force
to make sad or gloomy
External links [edit]
- oppress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- oppress in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
