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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Recent Examples of oppressor
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
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, the politicians must do more than push back against the White House tyrant.—
Laura Washington,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Sep. 2025
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And while the band's frontman Freddie Mercury only made it into his 40s, the song's question continues to haunt people—especially aging tyrants who fear that the icy hand of death is upon their shoulder and want far more time to ensure both national and personal glory.—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Her party, the Brothers of Italy, was founded by followers of former dictator Benito Mussolini as a post-fascist movement following WWII.—
Dan Gooding
Hannah Parry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
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For Machado and the Venezuelan opposition, embracing a narrative in which Maduro is a drug lord, not just a dictator, is a bit of a gamble.—
Gisela Salim-Peyer,
The Atlantic,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Oppressor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oppressor. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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