tyrant

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ty·rant

(tī′rənt)

1. An extremely oppressive, unjust, or cruel ruler.

2. An absolute ruler who governs without restrictions, especially one who seized power illegally.

3. An oppressive, harsh, arbitrary person: My boss is a tyrant.

[Middle English, from Old French, alteration (influenced by -ant, present participle ending) of tyran, from Latin tyrannus, from Greek turannos, absolute ruler, despot, possibly from Luwian tarwanis, ruler; see terə-² in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tyrant

(ˈtaɪrənt)

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a person who governs oppressively, unjustly, and arbitrarily; despot

2. any person who exercises authority in a tyrannical manner

3. anything that exercises tyrannical influence

4. (Historical Terms) (esp in ancient Greece) a ruler whose authority lacked the sanction of law or custom; usurper

[C13: from Old French tyrant, from Latin tyrannus, from Greek turannos]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ty•rant

(ˈtaɪ rənt)

n.

1. a sovereign or other ruler who uses power oppressively or unjustly.

2. any person in a position of authority who exercises power oppressively or despotically.

3. a tyrannical or compulsory influence.

4. an absolute ruler, esp. one in ancient Greece or Sicily.

[1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin tyrannus < Greek týrannos]

tyrant

A Greek synonym for king or ruler, not necessarily denoting one who has seized power unconstitutionally or who rules oppressively.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	tyrant - a cruel and oppressive dictator autocrat, despot czar - a person having great power potentate, dictator - a ruler who is unconstrained by law
	2.	tyrant - in ancient Greece, a ruler who had seized power without legal right to it ruler, swayer - a person who rules or commands; "swayer of the universe"
	3.	tyrant - any person who exercises power in a cruel way; "his father was a tyrant" individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"

tyrant

noun dictator, bully, authoritarian, Big Brother, oppressor, control freak, despot, autocrat, absolutist, martinet, slave-driver, Hitler Since 1804 the country has been mostly ruled by tyrants.

Quotations
"The hand of vengeance found the bed"
"To which the purple tyrant fled;"
"The iron hand crushed the tyrant's head,"
"And became a tyrant in his stead" [William Blake The Grey Monk]
"Tyrants seldom want pretexts" [Edmund Burke letter to a Member of the National Assembly]
"Nature has left this tincture in the blood,"
"That all men would be tyrants if they could" [Daniel Defoe The History of the Kentish Petition]
"When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,"
"And when he cried the little children died in the streets" [W.H. Auden Epitaph on a Tyrant]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

tyrant

noun

1. An absolute ruler, especially one who is harsh and oppressive:

Big Brother, despot, dictator, führer, man on horseback, oppressor, strongman, totalitarian.

2. One who imposes or favors absolute obedience to authority:

authoritarian, autocrat, despot, dictator, martinet, totalitarian.

Translations

مُسْتَبِد، ظالِم، طاغِيَه، جائِر

tyran

despotakényúrzsarnok

harîstjóri

tiranno

despotiškai valdytitironastironijatironiškaitironiškai elgtis su

tirāns

tiran

tirano

тиран

tiran

tyrann

zorba

专制统治者暴君

tyrant

[ˈtaɪrənt] N → tirano/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tyrant

[ˈtaɪ^ərənt] n → tyran m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tyrant

n (lit, fig) → Tyrann(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

tyrant

[ˈtaɪər/ənt] n → tiranno

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

tyrant

(ˈtairənt) noun

a cruel and unjust ruler. The people suffered under foreign tyrants.

tyrannical (tiˈrӕnikəl) adjective , tyrannous (ˈtirənəs)

of or like a tyrant. a tyrannical ruler; His actions were tyrannous.

tyˈrannically, ˈtyrannously adverb

tyrannize, tyrannise (ˈti-) verb

to rule or treat (a person or people) cruelly and unjustly. He tyrannizes his family.

ˈtyranny (ˈti-) noun

an action, or the method of ruling, of a tyrant. People will always resist tyranny.

References in classic literature ?

Last of all comes the most beautiful of all, man and State alike, tyranny and the tyrant; these we have now to consider.

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector.

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Art thou a tyrant? Then thou canst not have friends.

Far too long hath there been a slave and a tyrant concealed in woman.

View in context

I followed my instinct, opposed a tyrant, and broke a chain."

It came through the hands of a tyrant, for I tell you Crimsworth is a tyrant,--a tyrant to his workpeople, a tyrant to his clerks, and will some day be a tyrant to his wife."

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There were other cases, however, in which men who had got grants of these secularised benefices, were desirous of retaining them for their own use, without having the influence sufficient to establish their purpose ; and these became frequently unable to protect themselves, however unwilling to submit to the exactions of the feudal tyrant of the district.

He mingles in the narrative, therefore, a well deserved feeling of execration against the tyrant who employed the torture, which a tone of ridicule towards the patient, as if, after all, it had not been ill bestowed on such an equivocal and amphibious character as a titular abbot.

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Many large, bitter drops fell into the goblet as he took it, humbly, from the hand of the tyrant.

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Entice the tyrant back with fair promises, kill him and enthrone.

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A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

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Since then men are guilty of the greatest crimes from ambition, and not from necessity, no one, for instance aims at being a tyrant to keep him from the cold, hence great honour is due to him who kills not a thief, but tyrant; so that polity which Phaleas establishes would only be salutary to prevent little crimes.