oppress
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
oppress (third-person singular simple present oppresses, present participle oppressing, simple past and past participle oppressed)
- (transitive) To keep down by unjust force.
- The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.
- (transitive) To make sad or gloomy.
- We were oppressed by the constant grey skies.
- (transitive, obsolete) Physically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto X:
- Most mercilesse of women, VVyden hight, / Her other sonne fast sleeping did oppresse, / And with most cruell hand him murdred pittilesse.
ConjugationEdit
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 | ||
| imperative | oppress | — | |
| participles | oppressing | oppressed | |
| * Archaic or obsolete. | |||
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
keep down by unjust force
|
|
to make sad or gloomy
Further readingEdit
- oppress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- oppress in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.