oppress

English

Etymology

From Middle English oppressen, from Old French oppresser, from Medieval Latin oppressare (“to press against, oppress”), frequentative of Latin opprimere, past participle oppressus (“to press against, press together, oppress”), from ob (“against”) + premere, past participle pressus (“to press”); see press.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈpɹɛs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs
• Hyphenation: op‧press

Verb

oppress (third-person singular simple present oppresses, present participle oppressing, simple past and past participle oppressed)

1. (transitive) To keep down by unjust force.

   Synonym: suppress

   The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.

2. (transitive) To make sad or gloomy.

   Synonyms: begloom, get down; see also Thesaurus:sadden

   We were oppressed by the constant grey skies.

3. (transitive, obsolete) Physically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.

   Synonyms: depress, downbear, squash

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Most mercilesse of women, VVyden hight, / Her other sonne fast sleeping did oppresse, / And with most cruell hand him murdred pittilesse.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To sexually violate; to rape.

   Synonyms: outrage, violate, vitiate

Conjugation

Conjugation of oppress

infinitive	(to) oppress
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	oppress	oppressed
2nd-person singular	oppress, oppressest†	oppressed, oppressedst†
3rd-person singular	oppresses, oppresseth†	oppressed
plural	oppress
subjunctive	oppress	oppressed
imperative	oppress	—
participles	oppressing	oppressed

^† Archaic or obsolete.

Related terms

• oppression
• oppressive

Translations

keep down by unjust force

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: اِسْتَضْعَفَ (istaḍʕafa), قَهَرَ (qahara), اِضْطَهَدَ (iḍṭahada)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: əzmək (az), sıxışdırmaq, təzyiq etmək, zülm etmək
• Basque: zapaldu
• Bulgarian: потискам (bg) (potiskam)
• Catalan: oprimir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 壓迫 / 压迫 (zh) (yāpò)

• Czech: utiskovat
• Danish: undertrykke
• Dutch: onderdrukken (nl)
• Esperanto: subpremi, kontraŭpremi
• Finnish: sortaa (fi), alistaa (fi)
• French: opprimer (fr)
• Galician: oprimir (gl)
• Georgian: ჩაგვრა (čagvra), შევიწროება (ševic̣roeba)
• German: unterdrücken (de)
• Gothic: 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kaurjan)
• Greek: please add this translation if you can

  Ancient: βαρύνω (barúnō)

• Guaraní: jopy
• Hungarian: elnyom (hu), nyomorgat (hu), sanyargat (hu)
• Icelandic: kúga
• Irish: cuir faoi chois

  Old Irish: for·ding

• Italian: opprimere (it)
• Japanese: 圧迫する (あっぱくする, appaku suru)
• Khmer: សង្កត់សង្កិន (km) (sɑɑngkɑtsɑɑngkən)
• Korean: 압박하다 (ko) (apbakhada)
• Latin: opprimō
• Maori: nonope, aupēhi, kaupēhipēhi, tāmi, tātāmi, pēhi, whakawhiu, where, whakapēhi
• Marathi: दडपून ठेवणे (daḍpūn ṭhevṇe), दडपणे (daḍapṇe), दडपशाही करणे (daḍapśāhī karṇe)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Ngazidja Comorian: ukandamiza, udhulumu
• Portuguese: oprimir (pt)
• Romanian: asupri (ro), oprima (ro)
• Russian: притесня́ть (ru) (pritesnjátʹ)
• Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: oprimir (es), conculcar (es)
• Swedish: nedtrycka
• Tagalog: mang-api, apihin
• Thai: กดขี่ (th) (gòt-kìi), ข่มขี่ (th)
• Tibetan: གཉའ་གནོན་བཏང (gnya' gnon btang)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ugaritic: 𐎄𐎍𐎍 (dll)
• Ukrainian: пригно́блювати impf (pryhnóbljuvaty), гноби́ти impf (hnobýty), гніти́ти impf (hnitýty)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: áp chế (vi)
• Welsh: gorthrymu, gormesu (cy)

to make sad or gloomy

• Bulgarian: угнетявам (bg) (ugnetjavam)
• Finnish: painaa + genitive + mieltä, ahdistaa (fi), masentaa (fi)
• French: oppresser (fr)
• Guaraní: jopy
• Hungarian: lehangol (hu), lesújt (hu), lever (hu)

Further reading

• “oppress”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “oppress”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• porpess, soppers