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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Instead, Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won on Friday with the committee citing her fight for democracy against President Nicolas Maduro who is considered a dictator.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Oct. 2025
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Machado, who is the founder of the pro-democracy movement Sumate, and a key opponent of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, is currently living in hiding somewhere in Venezuela following threats to her life.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Oppressor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oppressor. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
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