Meanings
plural oppressors · alternative oppressour
- Someone who oppresses another or others.
All members of society are hurt by the dynamic of oppressor versus oppressed (McIntosh, 1988).
2006, Lisa V. Blitz, Mary Pender Greene, Racism and Racial Identity1 more example
And in respect of the great necessity there is, my darling, for more employments being within the reach of Woman than our civilisation has as yet assigned to her, don’t fly at the unfortunate men, even those men who are at first sight in your way, as if they were the natural oppressors of your sex […]
1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
Origin
- Latinoppressor
- Old Frenchopressor
- Middle Englishoppressour
- Englishoppressor
From Middle English oppressour, from Old French opressor and Latin oppressor; equivalent to oppress + -or.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic ظَالِم
- ظَالِم (ẓālim)someone who oppresses others
Bulgarian потисник, тиранин
- потисник (potisnik)someone who oppresses others
- тиранин (tiranin)someone who oppresses others
Catalan opressor
- opressorsomeone who oppresses others
Chinese Mandarin 壓迫者 /压迫者
- 壓迫者 /压迫者 (yāpòzhě)someone who oppresses others
Czech utlačovatel, utiskovatel
- utlačovatelsomeone who oppresses others
- utiskovatelsomeone who oppresses others
Dutch onderdrukker
- onderdrukkersomeone who oppresses others
Finnish sortaja
- sortajasomeone who oppresses others
French oppresseur
- oppresseursomeone who oppresses others
German Unterdrücker
- Unterdrückersomeone who oppresses others
Hebrew עָרִיץ, נוֹגֵשׂ
- עָרִיץ ('aríts)someone who oppresses others
- נוֹגֵשׂ (nogés)someone who oppresses others
Hungarian elnyomó
- elnyomósomeone who oppresses others
Japanese 圧制者
- 圧制者 (asseisha)someone who oppresses others
Polish gnębiciel, ciemięzca
- gnębicielsomeone who oppresses others
- ciemięzcasomeone who oppresses others
Portuguese opressor
- opressorsomeone who oppresses others
Punjabi ਜਾਬਰ, ਜ਼ਾਲਮ
- ਜਾਬਰ (jābar)someone who oppresses others
- ਜ਼ਾਲਮ (zālam)someone who oppresses others
Russian угнета́тель
- угнета́тель (ugnetátelʹ)someone who oppresses others
Spanish opresor
- opresorsomeone who oppresses others
Swedish förtryckare
- förtryckaresomeone who oppresses others
Ukrainian гноби́тель, гноби́телька
- гноби́тель (hnobýtelʹ)someone who oppresses others
- гноби́телька (hnobýtelʹka)someone who oppresses others
- понево́лювач (ponevóljuvač)someone who oppresses others
- понево́льник (ponevólʹnyk)someone who oppresses others
Cite this entry
oppressor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppressor
“oppressor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppressor. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oppressor,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppressor.
Source: oppressor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.