tyrant
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English tyraunt, tiraunt, tyrant, tyrante, from Old French tyrant, from the addition of a terminal -t to tiran (cp. French tyran) via a back-formation related to the development of French present participles out of the Latin -ans form, from Latin tyrannus (“despot”), from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos, “usurper, monarch, despot”),[1] of uncertain origin.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈtaɪɹənt/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪɹənt
- Hyphenation: ty‧rant
Noun
edittyrant (plural tyrants)
- (historical, Ancient Greece) A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], line 71:
- 1980, Michel Austin et al., Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece, section 142:
- The reappearance of tyranny [in the 4th century BC] had many reasons... one of the main causes was the development of antagonism between rich and poor; tyrants came to power exploiting a social and political imbalance within the state.
- 1996, Roger Boesche, Theories of Tyranny, from Plato to Arendt, section 4:
- Ancient Greek tyrannies appeared once more in great numbers with the breakdown of the polis in the period from the fourth to the second centuries [BC]. These later tyrannies tended to rely on a more narrow class base and to use a brutal military rule, and thus writers could use the words tyrant and tyranny, with their modern connotations of evil and cruelty, to describe them accurately.
- (obsolete) Any monarch or governor.
- 1737, William Whiston translating Josephus, History of the Jewish Wars, I xii §2:
- Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria.
- 1737, William Whiston translating Josephus, History of the Jewish Wars, I xii §2:
- A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- 1587, Philip Sidney and Arthur Golding, A woorke concerning the trewnesse of the christian religion, translating Philippe De Mornay, XII 196:
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], line 5:
- 1744, Alexander Shiels [i.e., Alexander Shields], “Period VI. Containing the Testimony through the Continued Tract of the Present Deformation, from the Year 1660 to this Day.”, in A Hind Let Loose: Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ; with the True State thereof in All Its Periods: [...], Edinburgh: Reprinted by R. Drummond and Company, and sold by William Gray bookbinder in the Grassmarket, and several others, &c., →OCLC, pages 167–168:
- Here is a Proclamation for a Prince: that proclaims him in whoſe name it is emitted [James II of England], to be the greateſt Tyrant that ever lived in the world, and their Revolt who have diſowned him to be the juſteſt that ever was.
- 1888, James Bryce, The American Commonweath, I iv 42:
- They [viz., the Framers of the American Constitution] held England to be the freest and best-governed country in the world, but were resolved to avoid the weak points which had enabled King George III. to play the tyrant, and which rendered English liberty, as they thought, far inferior to that which the constitutions of their own States secured.
- (by extension) Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], line 161:
- 1817, Mary Mitford in Alfred L'Estrange, The life of Mary Russell Mitford (1870), II i 2
- […] a sad tyrant, as my friends the Democrats sometimes are.
- (by extension) A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, :[13]:
- I was a blasphemar, and a persecuter, and a tyraunt.
- 1528, Thomas Paynell translating Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano, Regimen Sanitatis Salerni:
- A pike (called the tyranne of fishes).
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], line 85:
- O dissembling Curtesie! How fine this Tyrant Can tickle where she wounds?
- 1847, A. Helps, Friends in Council, I viii 132:
- Public opinion, the greatest tyrant of these times.
- The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
- 1731, Mark Catesby, The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, I 55:
- The Tyrant... The courage of this little Bird is singular.
- c. 1841, Swainson, Penny Cyclopaedia, XXI 415 2:
- The lesser tyrants (Tyrannulae) are spread over the whole of America, where they represent the true flycatcher... The tyrants are bold and quarrelsome birds, particularly during the season of incubation.
- 1895, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of Birds:
- Tyrant or Tyrant-bird, Catesby applied it solely to...the King-bird..., but apparently as much in reference to its bright crown...as to its tyrannical behaviour to other birds.
Synonyms
edit- (Greek ruler): archon, basileus, aisymnetes
- (unjust or strict ruler or superior): autocrat, dictator, despot, martinet
- (bird): tyrant bird, tyrant flycatcher, tyrant shrike, king bird, bee martin
Derived terms
edit- black-backed water tyrant
- chat-tyrant
- ground tyrant
- pygmy tyrant
- tit-tyrant
- tody-tyrant
- tyrancy
- tyrant-air
- tyrant-bird
- tyrant-chat
- tyrant-craft
- tyrantess
- tyrant-fish
- tyrant flycatcher
- tyrant-hater
- tyrant-hating
- tyranthood
- tyrant-killer
- tyrant-killing
- tyrant-kind
- tyrantless
- tyrantlike
- tyrant-murder
- Tyrant period
- tyrant-queller
- tyrant-quelling
- tyrant-ridden
- tyrant-scouraging
- tyrant-shrike
- tyrant-slayer
- tyrant-tamer
- tyrant-wren
- wagtail-tyrant
Related terms
editDescendants
edit- → Welsh: teirant
Translations
edithistorical / Ancient Greece: usurper
any monarch or governor
|
harsh and cruel ruler
|
person who abuses their power
|
person who uses violence to treat others unjustly
bird of the family Tyrannidae — see tyrant flycatcher
- 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
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Adjective
edittyrant
- (uncommon) Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.
- c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], line 278:
- 1775, Abigail Adams, letter in Familiar Letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution (1876), 124:
- ...a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, but tyrant state, and these colonies.
Verb
edittyrant (third-person singular simple present tyrants, present participle tyranting, simple past and past participle tyranted)
- (intransitive, obsolete) To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.
- a. 1661, Thomas Fuller, Of Fancy:
- Let thy judgment be king, but not tyrant over it
- (transitive, obsolete) To tyrannize.
References
edit- ^ “tyrant, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Further reading
edit- “tyrant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “tyrant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “tyrant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
editMiddle English
editNoun
edittyrant
- Alternative form of tyraunt
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