Meaning of oppression in English

Table of contents

Noun
oppression
Etymology
Middle English: from Old French, from Latin oppressio(n-), from the verb opprimere (see oppress)
Definitions
1. the act of subjugating by cruelty
Examples
- « the tyrant's oppression of the people »
Derived terms
2. the state of being kept down by unjust use of force or authority: "after years of oppression they finally revolted"
3. a feeling of being oppressed

Famous quotes

« When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives. »
Robert A. Heinlein
« It must not be forgotten in fairness to the National Government that apartheid is not just a policy of oppression but an attempt - in my opinion an attempt doomed to failure - to find an alternative to a policy of racial integration which is fair to both white and black. »
Harry Oppenheimer
« America is just the country that how all the written guarantees in the world for freedom are no protection against tyranny and oppression of the worst kind. There the politician has come to be looked upon as the very scum of society. »
Peter Kropotkin
« Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears. »
Louis D. Brandeis
« In the final analysis, the incident is seen as originating from an emotional expression of the frustration and anger of the proud people of China who had been subject to ever increasing oppression from without and decadent corruption from within. »
Chen Ning Yang