tyranny

English

Etymology

From Middle English tirannye, borrowed from Old French tyrannie, from Medieval Latin tyrannia, tyrania, from Ancient Greek τυραννία (turannía, “tyranny”), from τύραννος (túrannos, “lord, master, sovereign, tyrant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɪɹəni/
• Rhymes: -ɹəni

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

tyranny (countable and uncountable, plural tyrannies)

1. A government in which a single ruler (a tyrant) has absolute power; this system of government.
2. The office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
3. Absolute power, or its use.
4. A system of government in which power is exercised on behalf of the ruler or ruling class, without regard to the wishes of the governed.
   • 2019 April 28, Hagai El-Ad, “What kind of democracy deports human rights workers?”, in Yoni Molad, transl., +972 Magazine‎^[1]:

     Control, dispossession, violence, and tyranny are not “defensive”: they are part of an organized, ongoing aggression.

5. Extreme severity or rigour.

Synonyms

• (government): autocracy, despotism, dictatorship, monarchy

Derived terms

• anarcho-tyranny
• tyrannical
• tyranny of the majority

Related terms

• tyrant

Translations

government in which a single ruler has absolute power

• Arabic: طُغْيَان f (ṭuḡyān)
• Bulgarian: тирания (bg) f (tiranija)
• Catalan: tirania (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 僭主政治 (zh) (jiànzhǔ zhèngzhì), 獨裁／独裁 (zh) (dúcái)

• Czech: tyranie (cs) f
• Danish: tyranni n
• Dutch: tyrannie f
• Esperanto: tiraneco
• Estonian: türannia
• Finnish: tyrannia (fi)
• French: tyrannie (fr) f
• Georgian: ტირანია (ṭirania)
• German: Tyrannenherrschaft f, Tyrannei (de) f
• Greek: τυραννία (el) f (tyrannía)

  Ancient: τυραννίς m (turannís)

• Hungarian: zsarnokság (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Indonesian: tirani (id)
• Italian: tirannide (it) f
• Latvian: tirānija f
• Lithuanian: tironija f
• Manx: ard-tranlaase
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tyranni n

  Nynorsk: tyranni n

• Polish: tyrania (pl) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro) f
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

• Spanish: tiranía (es) f
• Swedish: tyranni (sv) n
• Volapük: tiren (vo)

office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler

• Estonian: türannia
• Italian: tirannide (it) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

absolute power, or its use

• Catalan: tirania (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 极权 (zh) (jíquán)

• Danish: tyranni n
• Estonian: türannia
• German: Tyrannei (de) f
• Greek: τυραννία (el) f (tyrannía)
• Hungarian: zsarnokság (hu)
• Indonesian: tirani (id)
• Irish: aintiarnas m, anlathas m
• Italian: tirannia (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Middle English: tirannye, tyrauntrie
• Polish: tyrania (pl) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro) f
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

• Spanish: tiranía (es) f

extreme severity or rigour

• Danish: tyranni n
• Estonian: türannia
• German: Tyrannei (de) f
• Greek: τυραννία (el) f (tyrannía)
• Italian: tirannia (it) f
• Middle English: tirannye
• Persian: ظلم (fa) (zolm)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: tyrania (pl) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro) f
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} anstró m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• autocracy
• monarchy

Further reading

• “tyranny”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tyranny”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “tyranny”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

---

Middle English

Noun

tyranny

1. Alternative form of tirannye