oppress Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority
    crush; suppress.
    • The government oppresses political activists
  2. verb cause to suffer
    persecute.
    • Jews were persecuted in the former Soviet Union

WordNet

Op*press" transitive verb
Etymology
F. oppresser, LL. oppressare, fr. L. oppressus, p. p. of opprimere; ob (see Ob-) + premere to press. See Press.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Oppressed ; present participle & verbal noun Oppressing
Definitions
  1. To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty. Wyclif.
    For thee, oppressèd king, am I cast down. Shak.
    Behold the kings of the earth; how they oppress Thy chosen ! Milton.
  2. To ravish; to violate. Obs. Chaucer.
  3. To put down; to crush out; to suppress. Obs.
    The mutiny he there hastes to oppress. Shak.
  4. To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.

Webster 1913