OPPRESSION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Oppression

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/əprˈɛʃən/ Listen

noun

Oppression n.

The act of oppressing, or state of being oppressed.

That which oppresses; a hardship or injustice; cruelty; severity; tyranny. "The multitude of oppressions."

A sense of heaviness or obstruction in the body or mind; depression; dullness; lassitude; as, an oppression of spirits; an oppression of the lungs. "There gentle Sleep First found me, and with soft oppression seized My drowsed sense."

Ravishment; rape. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Oppression'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Oppression" Quotes from Famous Books

... gilded the page of the history of our time with the most glorious achievements of the patriot that the world has ever had to admire. It was here that was inaugurated those immortal principles that caused revolution to rise in fire, and go down in freedom, amid the ruins and relics of oppression. It was here that the beacon of liberty first blazed, and the rainbow of freedom rose on the cloud of war; and as a result, of the patriotism and heroism of our forefathers, liberty has erected her ...

— Fifteen Years in Hell • Luther Benson

... have been his orders, not mine. But many things go on that I disapprove of; and I tell you very candidly that, were I to become master to-morrow, my first act would be to displace you, unless you could undertake to give up these nasty acts of petty oppression." ...

— Verner's Pride • Mrs. Henry Wood

... this ordeal: but what gives me more vexation, my books have been stopped at the bureau; and will be sent to Amiens at my expence, to be examined by the chambre syndicale; lest they should contain something prejudicial to the state, or to the religion of the country. This is a species of oppression which one would not expect to meet with in France, which piques itself on its politeness and hospitality: but the truth is, I know no country in which strangers are worse treated with respect to their essential concerns. If a foreigner dies in France, ...

— Travels Through France and Italy • Tobias Smollett

... anxious for peace at any price, and he puts a long speech into Agrippa's mouth counseling submission, he is yet anxious to show that his people were driven into war by the wickedness of Nero's governors. His masters allowed him, and probably invited him, to denounce the oppression of the ministers of their predecessors, and the Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus likewise state that the rapacity of the procurators drove the Jews into revolt. He had authority, therefore, for this view ...

— Josephus • Norman Bentwich

... for a considerable time to regain possession of Trenck's person. But the two friends suffered greatly from hardships and were made to feel more than once the cruelty of Prussian oppression. Even Trenck's sister, instigated thereto by her husband, who feared to incur the displeasure of Frederick the Great, refused the poor fugitives shelter, money, or as much as a crust of bread, and this after Trenck had jeopardized ...

— International Short Stories: French • Various

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