Dictionary

oppressive en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio
• /əˈpɹɛs.ɪv/
• /əʊˈpɹɛs.ɪv/ (uncommon)

Etymology

Etymology tree English oppress Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English oppressive From oppress + -ive.

Meanings

1. Burdensome or difficult to bear.
   • The oppressive tax laws made it difficult to start a small company.
2. Tyrannical or exercising unjust power.
   • The oppressive land-owners kept a grip on the labourers.
   • oppressive smell
3. Weighing heavily on the spirit; being quite intense, excessive or overwhelming.
   • It had been one of those unnaturally still and oppressive days when scarcely a leaf quivers, and every breath of air seems charged with electricity. Suddenly the thunder began to growl. Before many minutes eveiy pine-needle was shaking with a fierce chill wind, and a torrent of rain swept down the valley and drenched us through to the skin. 1887, Oscar Wilde, The Woman's World, Source Book Press,, page 75:
   • Their mantle was for a while worn unconsciously by him who showed to us Macbeth: and here again, in the deepening gloom of this tragic tale, we feel the oppressive influence of this invisible power, from the time we hear the prophetic rhymes, the spell has begun its work, and the clouds of misfortune blacken round us; and the fated course moves solemnly onward, irresistible and unerring as the progress of the sun, and soon to end in a night of horror. 1847, Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature, Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, page 588:
   • The possibility that women are not very sensitive to odours is often suggested to men by the perfumes of oppressive strength which women frequently use. 1914, Havelock Ellis, Man and Woman, The Macmillan Company,, page 158:
   • Without being slaves in fact, their condition is little better than vassalage in its most oppressive form. 1807, The Literary Panorama 1807-01: Volume 1, Open Court Publishing Company, page 696:
   • Mr. Wardlaw had left the castle: so also had Charlotte, by her own wish, her residence there having been found too oppressive to herself to be continued for the present. 1912, Thomas Hardy, A Laodicean, Macmillan and Company, page 440:
   • He defines it as belief in exalted spiritual powers by whose help human weakness is supplemented in its struggle with the oppressive forces of the natural world. 1895, The Hartford Seminary Record 1895-02: Volume 5, Issue 3, page 163:
   • The class of noblemen, who, at this particular epoch, had lost nothing of their primitive vigour, saw with pleasure the influence of the French depressed; but they suffered scarcely less from the absolute and oppressive influence which the Spaniards had acquired over them. 1827, Katharine Cover Sabin, ESP and Dream Analysis, Open Court Publishing Company, page 379:
   • With startling and oppressive force of illustration, he brings before us the fact, that in that grandest city of the earth, “if all the churches, chapels and buildings devoted to public worship, were filled to their last seat, there would be still left outside the buildings as many people as the whole population—men, women and children—in the cities of Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Birmingham.” 1864, The Theological Review, Whitfield, Green & Son, page 552:
   • Will the oppressive heat of summer never end?
4. Hot and humid.

Forms

Deriveds

nonoppressive · oppressiveness · oppressively · antioppressive · inoppressive · unoppressive

Synonyms

tyrannical · full of oneself · high and mighty · obtrusive · despotic · airy · orgulous · monocratic · blustery · presumptuous · la-di-da · self-important · hankty · high-handed · stuck up · snotty · biggity · brassy · hubristical · iron-fisted · pompous · grinding · humid · toplofty · entitled · supercilious · haught · big-headed · commanding · controlling · dictatorial · dominant · stout · domineering · authoritarian · turgescent · egotistical · vain · haughty · overweening · overbearing · disdainful · sanctimonious · conceited · domineering · cocky · coercive · thrasonical · turgid · authoritarian · toploftical · autocratic · forceful · high-hat · holier-than-thou · close · overbearing · hoity-toity · hubristic · pretentious · snobbish · harsh · flatulent · harsh · strict · lordly · heavy-handed · chesty · puffed up · flaunting · uppy · haut · demanding · highfalutin · grandiose · glorious · priggish · arrogant · insolent · upstage · imperious · bossy · tumid · uppish · inflated · thrasonic · bombastic · uppity · snooty · iron-handed · ostentatious · boastful · buggish · oppressive

Translations (42)

nl zwoel (weather: hot and humid) · bg потискащ (overpowering or overwhelming) · tl mapanghamak (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · fr oppressif (burdensome or difficult to bear) · fi raskas (burdensome or difficult to bear) · fr oppressif (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · bg тираничен (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · tl mapang-api (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · pt opressor (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · de unterdrückend (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · vi áp chế (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · pt oprimente (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · ga marbhánta (weather: hot and humid) · ca opressiu (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · ga anfhorlannach (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · fr oppressant (overpowering or overwhelming) · fi sorto- (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · ga meirbh (weather: hot and humid) · bg потискащ (burdensome or difficult to bear) · es opresivo; tiranico (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · fi tukahduttava (overpowering or overwhelming) · grc ἀχθεινός (burdensome or difficult to bear) · ru да́вящий (burdensome or difficult to bear) · mi haitutu (overpowering or overwhelming) · fi painostava (weather: hot and humid) · mi haitutu (weather: hot and humid) · be спяко́тны (weather: hot and humid) · bg угнетяващ (burdensome or difficult to bear) · de drückend (overpowering or overwhelming) · ru угнета́ющий (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · mi pōngerengere (overpowering or overwhelming) · de oppressiv (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · hi दमनकारी (burdensome or difficult to bear) · ga leatromach (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · fi sortava (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · nl drukkend (weather: hot and humid) · pt opressivo (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · ga tíoránta (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · hi दमनकारी (tyrannical or exercising unjust power) · es opresivo (burdensome or difficult to bear) · ru да́вящий (overpowering or overwhelming) · ru гнету́щий (overpowering or overwhelming)