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tyrannous

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From Latin tyrannus (tyrant) +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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tyrannous (comparative more tyrannous, superlative most tyrannous)

  1. Tyrannical, despotic or oppressive.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 582:
      [] that Elfe,
      That man and beast with powre imperious
      Subdeweth to his kingdome tyrannous:
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
      Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne
      To tyrannous hate!
    • 1797, Edmund Burke, “Remarks on the Policy of the Allies with Respect to France”, in Three Memorials on French Affairs[1], London: F. & C. Rivington, page 193:
      It is extraordinary that as the wicked arts of this regicide and tyrannous faction increase in number, variety, and atrocity, the desire of punishing them becomes more and more faint []
    • 1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Soothsay” in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis & White, pp. 269-270,[2]
      The affinities have strongest part
      In youth, and draw men heart to heart:
      As life wears on and finds no rest,
      The individual in each breast
      Is tyrannous to sunder them.