tyrant

What it means

1. historicalAncient GreeceA usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.

   To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice, That Henry liueth still.

   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

   2 more examples

   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.

   1980, Michel Austin et al., Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece, section 142

   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.

   1996, Roger Boesche, Theories of Tyranny, from Plato to Arendt, section 4

2. obsoleteAny monarch or governor.

   Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria.

   1737, William Whiston translating Josephus, History of the Jewish Wars, I xii §2

3. A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.

   I am the Sonne of Marcus Cato, hoe. A Foe to Tyrants, and my Countries Friend.

   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

   3 more examples

   Tyrannes...be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them.

   1587, Philip Sidney and Arthur Golding, A woorke concerning the trewnesse of the christian religion, translating Philippe De Mornay, XII 196

   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.

   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

   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.

   1888, James Bryce, The American Commonweath, I iv 42

   Synonyms: archon, basileus, aisymnetes, autocrat, dictator, despot, martinet

In a sentence

To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice, That Henry liueth still.

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

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekτύραννος“usurper, monarch, despot”
2. Latintyrannus“despot”
3. Old Frenchtyrant
4. Middle Englishtyraunt
5. Englishtyrant

From 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”), of uncertain origin.