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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of oppressor
There were only the oppressors and the oppressed.
—
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2025
Bad actors are counting on us to tear each other apart—to fall for the narcissism of small differences, to turn on our allies instead of our oppressors.
—Andrew Weinstein, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
Movie lovers tend to think of producers as dictators of formulas, oppressors of originality, the enemies of art, but that just reflects the unfortunate history of studio filmmaking in Hollywood and elsewhere.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2025
The poem presents the Trojans, and the future Romans of Virgil’s own time, as both the underdogs and the oppressors, both the migrants and the colonizers, both the wretched refugees and the imperial overlords.
—Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
And Dafoe, an actor who’s always excelled at playing off-kilter figures, keeps us guessing about the soft-spoken but steely Anniston, who seems intent on paying for not only his sins but those of oppressors in general.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2025
Bad actors are counting on us to tear each other apart—to fall for the narcissism of small differences, to turn on our allies instead of our oppressors.
—Andrew Weinstein, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
Movie lovers tend to think of producers as dictators of formulas, oppressors of originality, the enemies of art, but that just reflects the unfortunate history of studio filmmaking in Hollywood and elsewhere.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2025
The poem presents the Trojans, and the future Romans of Virgil’s own time, as both the underdogs and the oppressors, both the migrants and the colonizers, both the wretched refugees and the imperial overlords.
—Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
And Dafoe, an actor who’s always excelled at playing off-kilter figures, keeps us guessing about the soft-spoken but steely Anniston, who seems intent on paying for not only his sins but those of oppressors in general.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for oppressor
Noun
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So how should CHROs and other talent leaders handle reports of an office tyrant?—
Susan Caminiti,
CNBC,
14 Oct. 2025
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Bring the Paine The only thing Paine liked less than monarchical rule was its enablers, anyone who relinquished their freedom willingly to an aspiring tyrant.—
Matthew Redmond,
The Conversation,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
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And with foreign powers long divided over the war in Syria and the uprising against its former dictator, there is little hope for an international tribunal either.—
Danny Makki,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
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The 2025 Noble Peace Prize went to Maria Corina Machado for her political opposition to Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.—
Peter Lucas,
Boston Herald,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Oppressor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oppressor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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