noun
oppressor
uh-PRESS-er/əˈpresər/
A person, group, or system that cruelly or unjustly controls others.
The oppressor keeps the crowd trapped by refusing to let anyone leave.
Etymology
An oppressor is pictured as someone who presses others down: the Latin noun meant a crusher or destroyer. That forceful image underlies the person who exercises cruel authority.
In context
who hath to- day plucked the rod from the hand of yonder ruthless oppressor so wantonly lashing that tender child.
More examples
- Workers unite to resist their oppressors.
- She describes the military regime as an oppressor.
- They see the discriminatory legal system as an oppressor.
Forms
oppressor · oppressors
oppress verb — Control others in cruel or unjust ways.
oppression noun — Cruel or unjust control over others.
Similar words
- tyrant
- Usually a ruler who exercises power cruelly and arbitrarily.
- dictator
- Holds absolute political power, without necessarily exercising it cruelly.
- persecutor
- Targets people with repeated hostility, often because of their beliefs.