oppress
English Edit
Etymology Edit
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 Edit
Verb Edit
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, “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.
- (transitive, obsolete) To sexually violate; to rape.
Conjugation Edit
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 | |
Related terms Edit
Translations Edit
keep down by unjust force
|
to make sad or gloomy
Further reading Edit
- “oppress”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “oppress”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.