Synonyms of oppressor

oppressor

noun

as in tyrant

a person who uses power or authority in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way

the dictatorship had scarcely been overthrown when the formerly oppressed suddenly abandoned their democratic ideals and became the oppressors

Synonyms & Similar Words

• tyrant
• dictator
• ruler
• pharaoh
• despot
• warlord
• man on horseback
• strongman
• overlord
• caesar
• führer
• tycoon
• king
• leader
• prince
• tyrannizer
• authoritarian
• autocrat
• monarch
• totalitarian
• dominator
• magnate
• boss
• potentate
• sovereign
• baron
• master
• caudillo
• chief
• queen
• Big Brother
• lord
• paramount
• autarch
• czar
• monocrat
• captain
• taskmaster
• kingpin
• enforcer
• mogul
• disciplinarian
• martinet
• discipliner

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of oppressor

The practice likely had its roots in mid-20th century productions and crystallized over the decades, though American accents have often been used in film history to differentiate the oppressed from the oppressor. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 July 2026

Your structure sorts the whole world into two boxes, oppressor and oppressed. — Joyce Kamanitz, Hartford Courant, 25 June 2026

An America where justice brings down oppressors and lifts up the ordinary. — Chicago Tribune, 21 June 2026

What if ensuring your own existence meant repeatedly traveling back to an era where your ancestors were enslaved, forcing you to rescue them from their horrifying oppressor? — Janey Wetzel, PEOPLE, 19 June 2026

And did the advocates of this collective pedagogy imagine their children rising to heights of power, only to view the darker nations of the world through the same violent lens as their oppressors? — Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2026

To Be Whole,' which teaches that the United States was founded on 'white supremacy' and categorizes individuals as 'oppressors' and 'oppressed' based only on their skin color, not their individual decisions and actions. — Gabriela Vidal, CBS News, 9 June 2026

Going to a former colony as a white male Belgian filmmaker, going there as the former oppressor in a way, or having that heritage of the oppressor. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 June 2026

Meanwhile, Annie as played by Tess Barthélémy copes in two ways with being surrounded by caricaturish oppressors. — Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 18 May 2026