oppression

English

Etymology

From Middle English oppression, from Old French oppression, from Latin oppressio (“a pressing down, violence, oppression”), from opprimere, past participle oppressus (“to press down”); see oppress.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Noun

oppression (countable and uncountable, plural oppressions)

1. The exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.
   • Sir Walter Raleigh

     Oh, by what plots, by what forswearings, betrayings, oppressions, imprisonments, tortures, poisonings, and under what reasons of state and politic subtilty, have these forenamed kings […] pulled the vengeance of God upon themselves […]

2. The act of oppressing, or the state of being oppressed.

   The oppression of the poor by the aristocracy was one cause of the French Revolution.

3. A feeling of being oppressed.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.

   Our oppression was lifted by the reappearance of the sun.

Related terms

• oppress

Translations

act of oppressing, or the state of being oppressed

• Arabic: ظُلْم‏‎ (ar) m (ẓulm)
• Armenian: հալածանք (hy) (halacankʿ)
• Belarusian: прыгнёт m (pryhnjót), прыгнеча́нне n (pryhnječánnje)
• Catalan: opressió
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 壓迫 (zh), 压迫 (zh) (yāpò)

• Czech: útlak m
• Danish: undertrykkelse c
• Dutch: onderdrukking (nl) f
• French: oppression (fr) f
• Georgian: შევიწროება (ševic̣roeba), ჩაგვრა (čagvra)
• German: Unterdrückung (de) f
• Greek: καταπίεση (el) f (katapíesi)
• Hebrew: דיכוי‏‎ m (dikuj)
• Hungarian: elnyomás (hu)

• Irish: ansmacht m, leatrom m
• Italian: oppressione (it)
• Japanese: 圧迫 (ja) (あっぱく, appaku), 圧制 (ja) (あっせい, assei)
• Kazakh: езгі (ezgi)
• Korean: 압박 (ko) (apbak), 압제 (ko) (apje)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: چه‌وساندنه‌وه‏‎ (çewsandinewe), زۆرداری‏‎ (ku) (zordari)

• Portuguese: opressão (pt)
• Russian: гнёт (ru) m (gnjot), угнете́ние (ru) n (ugneténije), притесне́ние (ru) n (pritesnénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: sàrachadh m
• Spanish: opresión (es) f
• Swedish: förtryck
• Ukrainian: гніт m (hnit), пригні́чення n (pryhníčennja)
• Vietnamese: sự áp bức (vi)

feeling of being oppressed

• Dutch: bedruktheid f
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: زۆرداری‏‎ (ku) (zordari)

• Scottish Gaelic: sàrachadh m

exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner

• Dutch: onderdrukking (nl) f
• Georgian: შევიწროება (ševic̣roeba)
• German: Unterdrückung (de) f

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: زۆرداری‏‎ (ku) (zordari)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} ainneart m, ^{(please verify)} aintreise f, ^{(please verify)} anfhorlann f, ^{(please verify)} antrom, ^{(please verify)} ceanntrom m, ^{(please verify)} ceas m, ^{(please verify)} daoirse f, ^{(please verify)} daorsmacht, ^{(please verify)} dochraide, ^{(please verify)} dúchan, ^{(please verify)} duibhe f, ^{(please verify)} éadulaingt, ^{(please verify)} éagomhlann, ^{(please verify)} forlann, ^{(please verify)} forrachtadh, ^{(please verify)} iomarca, ^{(please verify)} tíorántacht, ^{(please verify)} trom, ^{(please verify)} tromas

Further reading

• oppression in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• oppression in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

oppression f (plural oppressions)

1. oppression