oppressive
1Oppressive — Op*press ive, a. [Cf. F. oppressif.] 1. Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law. Macaulay. [1913 Webster] 2. Using oppression; tyrannical; as,… …
2oppressive — [adj1] overwhelming, repressive backbreaking*, bleak, brutal, burdensome, confining, cruel, demanding, depressing, depressive, despotic, dictatorial, discouraging, disheartening, dismal, dispiriting, exacting, exigent, gloomy, grievous, grinding …
3oppressive — I adjective afflictive, arduous, burdensome, confining, cruel, crushing, cumbersome, cumbrous, depressing, detrimental, devouring, difficult, difficult to bear, distressing, engulfing, exacting, exhausting, fatiguing, formidable, galling,… …
4oppressive — (adj.) 1641, from M.L. oppressivus, from pp. stem of opprimere (see OPPRESS (Cf. oppress)). Related: Oppressively; oppressiveness …
5oppressive — *onerous, burdensome, exacting Analogous words: extorting or extortionate, extracting (see corresponding verbs at EDUCE): compelling or compulsory, coercing or coercion, constraining, obliging or obligatory (see corresponding verbs at FORCE):… …
6oppressive — ► ADJECTIVE 1) harsh and authoritarian. 2) weighing heavily on the mind or spirits. 3) (of weather) close and sultry. DERIVATIVES oppressively adverb oppressiveness noun …
7oppressive — [ə pres′iv] adj. [ME oppressivus < L oppressus: see OPPRESS] 1. hard to put up with; causing great discomfort or fatigue 2. cruelly overbearing; tyrannical 3. weighing heavily on the mind, spirits, or senses; distressing SYN. ONEROUS… …
8oppressive — [[t]əpre̱sɪv[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED If you describe a society, its laws, or customs as oppressive, you think they treat people cruelly and unfairly. The new laws will be just as oppressive as those they replace. ...refugees from the oppressive regime …
9oppressive — op|pres|sive [əˈpresıv] adj 1.) powerful, cruel, and unfair ▪ an oppressive military regime 2.) weather that is oppressive is unpleasantly hot with no movement of air ▪ the oppressive heat of the afternoon 3.) a situation that is oppressive makes …
10oppressive — adjective 1 powerful, cruel, and unfair: an oppressive military regime 2 weather that is oppressive is unpleasantly hot with no movement of air: The evening gradually grew more and more oppressive. 3 a situation that is oppressive makes you feel… …
