Meanings
present singular third person oppresses · participle present oppressing · participle past oppressed · past oppressed · first person past singular oppressed · archaic present second person singular oppressest · past second person singular oppressed · archaic past second person singular oppressedst · present singular third person oppresses · archaic present singular third person oppresseth · past singular third person oppressed · past plural oppressed · past subjunctive oppressed · participle present oppressing · participle past oppressed
- obsoletetransitivePhysically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.
Most mercilesse of women, VVyden hight, / Her other sonne fast sleeping did oppresse, / And with most cruell hand him murdred pittilesse.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
plural oppresses
- countableobsoleteuncountableOppression.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make sad or gloomy.
verbPhysically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.
verbTo sexually violate; to rape.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinopprimere
- Medieval Latinoppressare“to press against, oppress”
- Old Frenchoppresser
- Middle Englishoppressen
- Englishoppress
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.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek βαρύνω
- βαρύνω (barúnō)keep down by unjust force
Arabic اِسْتَضْعَفَ, قَهَرَ
- اِسْتَضْعَفَ (istaḍʕafa)keep down by unjust force
- قَهَرَ (qahara)keep down by unjust force
- اِضْطَهَدَ (iḍṭahada)keep down by unjust force
Basque zapaldu
- zapaldukeep down by unjust force
Bulgarian потискам, угнетявам
- потискам (potiskam)keep down by unjust force
- угнетявам (ugnetjavam)to make sad or gloomy
Catalan oprimir
- oprimirkeep down by unjust force
Chinese Mandarin 壓迫 /压迫
- 壓迫 /压迫 (yāpò)keep down by unjust force
Czech utiskovat
- utiskovatkeep down by unjust force
Danish undertrykke
- undertrykkekeep down by unjust force
Dutch onderdrukken
- onderdrukkenkeep down by unjust force
Esperanto subpremi, opresi
- subpremikeep down by unjust force
- opresikeep down by unjust force
- kontraŭpremikeep down by unjust force
- premegito make sad or gloomy
Finnish sortaa, alistaa
- sortaakeep down by unjust force
- alistaakeep down by unjust force
- ahdistaato make sad or gloomy
- masentaato make sad or gloomy
French opprimer, oppresser
- opprimerkeep down by unjust force
- oppresserto make sad or gloomy
German unterdrücken
- unterdrückenkeep down by unjust force
Greek βαρύνω
- βαρύνω (varýno)keep down by unjust force
Hindi दमन
- दमन (daman)keep down by unjust force
Hungarian elnyom, nyomorgat
- elnyomkeep down by unjust force
- nyomorgatkeep down by unjust force
- sanyargatkeep down by unjust force
- lehangolto make sad or gloomy
- lesújtto make sad or gloomy
- leverto make sad or gloomy
Icelandic kúga
- kúgakeep down by unjust force
Irish cuir faoi chois
- cuir faoi choiskeep down by unjust force
Italian opprimere
- opprimerekeep down by unjust force
Japanese 圧迫する
- 圧迫する (appaku suru)keep down by unjust force
Korean 압박하다
- 압박하다 (apbakhada)keep down by unjust force
Latin opprimō
- opprimōkeep down by unjust force
Māori nonope, aupēhi
- nonopekeep down by unjust force
- aupēhikeep down by unjust force
- kaupēhipēhikeep down by unjust force
- tāmikeep down by unjust force
- tātāmikeep down by unjust force
- pēhikeep down by unjust force
- whakawhiukeep down by unjust force
- wherekeep down by unjust force
- whakapēhikeep down by unjust force
Portuguese oprimir
- oprimirkeep down by unjust force
Romanian asupri, oprima
- asuprikeep down by unjust force
- oprimakeep down by unjust force
Russian притесня́ть, притесни́ть
- притесня́ть (pritesnjátʹ)keep down by unjust force
- притесни́ть (pritesnítʹ)keep down by unjust force
Spanish oprimir, conculcar
- oprimirkeep down by unjust force
- conculcarkeep down by unjust force
- opresarkeep down by unjust force
Swedish nedtrycka
- nedtryckakeep down by unjust force
Tagalog mang-api, apihin
- mang-apikeep down by unjust force
- apihinkeep down by unjust force
Thai กดขี่, ข่มขี่
- กดขี่ (gòt-kìi)keep down by unjust force
- ข่มขี่keep down by unjust force
Ukrainian пригно́блювати, гноби́ти
- пригно́блювати (pryhnóbljuvaty)keep down by unjust force
- гноби́ти (hnobýty)keep down by unjust force
- гніти́ти (hnitýty)keep down by unjust force
Vietnamese áp chế
- áp chếkeep down by unjust force
Welsh gorthrymu, gormesu
- gorthrymukeep down by unjust force
- gormesukeep down by unjust force
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with oppress
Cite this entry
oppress. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppress
“oppress.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppress. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oppress,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppress.
Source: oppress on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.