Oppressive

/əˈpɹɛs.ɪv/ · adjective

Meaning

Burdensome or difficult to bear..

Definitions by Sense

1. Burdensome or difficult to bear.
2. Tyrannical or exercising unjust power.
3. Weighing heavily on the spirit; being quite intense, excessive or overwhelming.
4. (of the weather) Hot and humid.

Example Sentences

The oppressive tax laws made it difficult to start a small company.

oppressive smell

The oppressive land-owners kept a grip on the labourers.

Will the oppressive heat of summer never end?

Without being slaves in fact, their condition is little better than vassalage in its most oppressive form.

The class of noblemen, who, at this particular epoch, had lost nothing of their primitive vigour, saw with pleasure the influence of the French depressed; but they suffered scarcely less from the absolute and oppressive influence which the Spaniards had acquired over them.

Their mantle was for a while worn unconsciously by him who showed to us Macbeth: and here again, in the deepening gloom of this tragic tale, we feel the oppressive influence of this invisible power, from the time we hear the prophetic rhymes, the spell has begun its work, and the clouds of misfortune blacken round us; and the fated course moves solemnly onward, irresistible and unerring as the progress of the sun, and soon to end in a night of horror.

With startling and oppressive force of illustration, he brings before us the fact, that in that grandest city of the earth, “if all the churches, chapels and buildings devoted to public worship, were filled to their last seat, there would be still left outside the buildings as many people as the whole population—men, women and children—in the cities of Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Birmingham.”

Synonyms for oppressive

Antonyms for oppressive

Related Words

Word Forms

• more oppressive
• most oppressive

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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