oppresses
Rules with cruelty
To oppress is to keep people down through unjust use of power or authority.
Governments oppress citizens through laws that restrict freedom.
Social systems oppress groups by denying them opportunities.
The word carries weight—it implies sustained, systematic mistreatment rather than isolated incidents: The regime oppresses religious minorities.
What oppresses can also simply weigh heavily: Humidity oppressed the city.
Exerts supreme control
- tyrannizesRules by cruel domination
- persecutesHarasses with sustained hostility
- repressesSubdues or restrains forcibly
- enslavesForces into servitude
exploits · suppresses · coerces · brutalizes · victimizes · marginalizes · disenfranchises · silences
dominates
Exerts supreme control
- tyrannizesRules by cruel domination
- persecutesHarasses with sustained hostility
- repressesSubdues or restrains forcibly
enslaves · exploits · suppresses · coerces · brutalizes · victimizes · marginalizes · disenfranchises · silences · controls
crushes
Compresses with force
- burdensWeighty obligations borne
- suffocatesFatally obstructs breathing
- smothersSuppresses or suffocates
stifles · overpowers · drowns · engulfs · swamps · consumes · strains · taxes · presses · tramples
oppressesliberates
Sets free from captivity
frees · emancipates · delivers · releases · unshackles
oppressesuplifts
Raises emotionally or physically
elevates · encourages · supports · nurtures · champions
oppressesempowers
Grants ability or authority
enables · uplifts · elevates · encourages · strengthens
- racial oppressionUnjust treatment by ethnicity
- oppressive heatUnbearably hot conditions
- oppressive regimeHarsh, controlling government
- systemic oppressionInstitutionalized disadvantage of groups
- fleeing oppressionEscaping systematic persecution
oppressed, oppress, oppressive, oppression, oppressor, oppressing, oppressors