tyranny

English

Etymology

From Middle English tirannye, from Old French tyrannie, from Medieval Latin tyrannia, tyrania, from Ancient Greek τυραννία (turannía, “tyranny”), from τύραννος (túrannos, “lord, master, sovereign, tyrant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɪɹəni/, (obsolete) /ˈtaɪɹəni/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɹəni

Noun

tyranny (countable and uncountable, plural tyrannies)

1. A government in which a single ruler (a tyrant) has absolute power, or this system of government; especially, one that acts cruelly and unjustly.
2. The office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
3. Absolute power, or its use.
4. A system of government in which power is exercised on behalf of the ruler or ruling class, without regard to the wishes of the governed.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i:

     He that with ſhepheards and a litle ſpoyle,
     Durſt in diſdaine of wrong and tyrannie,
     Defend his freedome gainſt a Monarchie:
     What will he doe ſupported by a king?

   • 2019 April 28, Hagai El-Ad, “What kind of democracy deports human rights workers?”, in Yoni Molad, transl., +972 Magazine‎^[2]:

     Control, dispossession, violence, and tyranny are not “defensive”: they are part of an organized, ongoing aggression.

5. Extreme severity or rigour.

Synonyms

• (government): autocracy, despotism, dictatorship, absolute monarchy, tyranthood

Hyponyms

• (government): absolute monarchy, benevolent absolutism, enlightened absolutism, enlightened despotism

Derived terms

• anarcho-tyranny
• tyrannical
• tyranny of the majority
• tyranny of the masses

Related terms

• tyrant

Translations

government in which a single ruler has absolute power

• Albanian: tirani (sq) f
• Arabic: طُغْيَان f (ṭuḡyān), اِسْتِبْدَاد (ar) m (istibdād), ظُلْم (ar) m (ẓulm)
• Armenian: բռնակալություն (hy) (bṙnakalutʻyun), բռնապետություն (hy) (bṙnapetutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: tiraniya, zülm (az), zalımlıq (az), istibdad (az)
• Basque: tirania
• Belarusian: тырані́я f (tyraníja)
• Bengali: অত্যাচার (bn) (ottacar)
• Bulgarian: тирани́я (bg) f (tiraníja)
• Catalan: tirania (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 僭主政治 (zh) (jiànzhǔ zhèngzhì), 獨裁 / 独裁 (zh) (dúcái), 暴政 (zh) (bàozhèng), 暴戾 (zh) (bàolì)

• Czech: tyranie (cs) f
• Danish: tyranni n
• Dutch: tyrannie f
• Esperanto: tiraneco
• Estonian: türannia (et)
• Finnish: tyrannia (fi)
• French: tyrannie (fr) f
• Georgian: ტირანია (ṭirania)
• German: Tyrannenherrschaft f, Tyrannei (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 f (anamahts)
• Greek: τυραννία (el) f (tyrannía)

  Ancient: τυραννίς m (turannís)

• Hebrew: עָרִיצוּת (he) f ('aritsót)
• Hindi: ज़ुल्म m (zulm), ज़ुलमियत f (zulmiyat), अत्याचार (hi) m (atyācār)
• Hungarian: zsarnokság (hu)
• Indonesian: tirani (id), istibdad (id)
• Italian: tirannide (it) f
• Japanese: 暴戻 (ja) (ぼうれい, bōrei), 圧政 (ja) (あっせい, assei)
• Kazakh: зомбылық (zombylyq), зорлық (zorlyq), зұлымдық (zūlymdyq)
• Khmer: ប្រជាហឹង្សា (prɑciə həngsaa)
• Korean: 폭려(暴戾) (ko) (pongnyeo), 포학(暴虐) (ko) (pohak), 압정(壓政) (apjeong)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zilm (ku), zordarî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: залимдик (zalimdik), тирания (ky) (tiraniya)
• Latvian: tirānija f
• Lithuanian: tironija f
• Macedonian: тиранија f (tiranija)
• Malay: penganiayaan, aniaya
• Manx: ard-tranlaase
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tyranni n

  Nynorsk: tyranni n

• Ottoman Turkish: ظلم (zulm, zulüm)
• Pashto: استبداد (ps) m (estebdād), ظلم (ps) m (zᶕləm)
• Persian: استبداد (fa) (estebdâd), ظلم (fa) (zolm)
• Polish: tyrania (pl) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro) f
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

• Slovak: tyrania f
• Slovene: tiranija (sl) f
• Spanish: tiranía (es) f
• Swedish: tyranni (sv) n
• Tagalog: tiraniya
• Tajik: истибдод (istibdod), зулм (zulm)
• Thai: ทรราชย์ (tɔɔ-rá-râat)
• Turkish: zulüm (tr), zorbalık (tr)
• Turkmen: zulum (tk), zalymlyk (tk)
• Ukrainian: тирані́я f (tyraníja)
• Urdu: ظُلْم (ur) m (zulm), اِسْتِبْداد m (istibdād)
• Uyghur: ئىستىبدات (istibdat), زالىملىق (zalimliq)
• Uzbek: zulm (uz), istibdod (uz), zolimlik (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự bạo ngược (vi), sự chuyên chế (vi)
• Volapük: tiren (vo)

office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler

• Estonian: türannia (et)
• Italian: tirannide (it) f
• Polish: tyrania (pl) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro)
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

absolute power, or its use

• Azerbaijani: tiraniya, zülm (az), istibdad (az)
• Bulgarian: тирани́я (bg) f (tiraníja)
• Catalan: tirania (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 極權 / 极权 (zh) (jíquán)

• Danish: tyranni n
• Estonian: türannia (et)
• German: Tyrannei (de) f
• Greek: τυραννία (el) f (tyrannía)
• Hungarian: zsarnokság (hu)
• Indonesian: tirani (id)
• Irish: aintiarnas m, anlathas m
• Italian: tirannia (it) f
• Middle English: tirannye, tyrauntrie
• Ottoman Turkish: ظلم (zulm, zulüm)
• Polish: tyrania (pl) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro) f
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

• Spanish: tiranía (es) f

extreme severity or rigour

• Azerbaijani: zülm (az)
• Bulgarian: тирани́я (bg) f (tiraníja)
• Danish: tyranni n
• Estonian: türannia (et)
• German: Tyrannei (de) f
• Greek: τυραννία (el) f (tyrannía)
• Italian: tirannia (it) f
• Middle English: tirannye
• Old Norse: ofríki n
• Persian: ظلم (fa) (zolm)
• Polish: tyrania (pl) f
• Portuguese: tirania (pt) f
• Romanian: tiranie (ro) f
• Russian: тирани́я (ru) f (tiraníja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тира̀нија f

  Roman: tirànija (sh) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} anstró m

See also

• autocracy
• monarchy

Further reading

• “tyranny”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tyranny”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “tyranny”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Middle English

Noun

tyranny

1. Alternative form of tirannye