as in harsh
difficult to endure
an oppressive regime that rules through terror
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Recent Examples of oppressive
The Collector is also hoping these will satiate the growing wants of his oppressive overlord, The Forger (Roddy Ricch), who has mysterious motives of his own.
—
Courtney Howard, Variety, 17 Apr. 2025
The current war in Sudan involves civil strife and shifting allegiances, in which one oppressive regime was toppled by a coalition, which then turned in on itself, leading to an even more vicious war.
—Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs, 14 Apr. 2025
Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone.
—Katie Campione, Deadline, 14 Apr. 2025
Archbishop Óscar Romero, assassinated for advocating on behalf of El Salvador’s oppressed, invoked Exodus passionately, urging his community to break free from oppressive structures.
—Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 12 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for oppressive
Courtney Howard, Variety, 17 Apr. 2025
The current war in Sudan involves civil strife and shifting allegiances, in which one oppressive regime was toppled by a coalition, which then turned in on itself, leading to an even more vicious war.
—Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs, 14 Apr. 2025
Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone.
—Katie Campione, Deadline, 14 Apr. 2025
Archbishop Óscar Romero, assassinated for advocating on behalf of El Salvador’s oppressed, invoked Exodus passionately, urging his community to break free from oppressive structures.
—Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 12 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for oppressive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for oppressive
Adjective
-
Vietnamese refugees who got a warm welcome from America puzzle at family separations, harsh rhetoric In Vietnam, Lam had owned three companies.—
Anh Do,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Apr. 2025
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President Donald Trump has launched harsh immigration actions in his first 100 days in office—detaining more people for immigration violations, allowing arrests outside schools and courthouses, and sending more than 200 Venezuelan men to be imprisoned in El Salvador.—
Brian Bennett,
Time,
29 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
This high school student completed a brutal swim across New Zealand's 13.67-mile Cook Strait 02:16 CNN — Maya Merhige eventually stopped counting her jellyfish stings, such was the frequency with which they were getting scorched against her skin.—
George Ramsay,
CNN Money,
30 Apr. 2025
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The Cleveland Browns finally stopped the brutal NFL draft slide of quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round.—
Tom Rogers,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Published in English, Tehelka had a small circulation but an outsized reputation for tough investigations.—
Andrew Marantz,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2025
-
Four times, he’s used it to strikeout hitters, with the horizontal break being tough to pick up.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Pritzker — who was rumored to be on the shortlist to be former Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate last year — issued a searing rebuke of the Trump administration, in his address.—
Sarah Fortinsky,
The Hill,
28 Apr. 2025
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Her viral speech in Minneapolis in 2020 remains one of the most searing indictments of state violence in recent memory.—
Sughnen Yongo,
Forbes.com,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Alongside Jey Uso, Flair’s Royal Rumble win garnered severe backlash.—
Alfred Konuwa,
Forbes.com,
1 May 2025
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Facing this unusually severe problem, the state began regulating air pollution well before the federal government did.—
Camila Domonoske,
NPR,
1 May 2025
Adjective
-
But this is the cruel and unreasonable state of this Administration's deportation policy.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Apr. 2025
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Such evidence could support the view that incessant loud noise amounts to torture or cruel treatment towards cetaceans, in turn galvanizing support for a new right to be free from such harm.—
David Gruber,
Time,
24 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Sandoval has received some pay bumps, including a temporary $10,000-a-year bonus for Hawaii special education teachers designed to alleviate shortages in that and other hard-to-staff areas.—
Alia Wong,
USA TODAY,
14 Feb. 2023
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Whether those numbers are an overstatement, or possibly an understatement, is hard to say.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes,
13 Feb. 2023
Adjective
-
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman had a rough outing against the New York Yankees on Sunday in the first game of a doubleheader.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
28 Apr. 2025
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Oz has had 30 (homers) and 100 (RBIs) before and can have some rough patches and still has a way of coming out of it.—
David O'Brien,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Oppressive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oppressive. Accessed 5 May. 2025.
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