Meaning & use
tyranny
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Meanings
noununcountable
A system of government in which one ruler or small group holds total power and uses it harshly, ignoring the rights of ordinary people.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: live under tyranny, not live under a tyranny, though the plural tyrannies exists.
Patterns
- tyranny of someone
- live under tyranny
- fight against tyranny
The villagers lived for decades under the tyranny of a brutal general.
The revolution promised freedom from tyranny.
Writers have long warned that unchecked power slides into tyranny.
noununcountablefigurative
Unfair or oppressive control that someone or something has over other people in everyday life, without being a government.
Grammar: Often followed by of plus the thing that dominates: the tyranny of the clock.
Patterns
- the tyranny of something
- free from the tyranny of something
She felt trapped by the tyranny of her inbox.
Many teenagers describe the tyranny of social media likes.
The old coach ran the team with petty tyranny.
Word forms
| plural | tyrannies |
|---|
Common combinations
- escape tyranny
- Many families fled across the border to escape tyranny.
- the tyranny of the majority
- The constitution is meant to guard against the tyranny of the majority.
- overthrow tyranny
- The crowd gathered to overthrow tyranny and demand elections.
- petty tyranny
- Her boss's petty tyranny made every meeting miserable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- despotism
- Despotism is a more formal word that focuses on rule by one absolute ruler, while tyranny stresses cruelty and injustice.
- oppression
- Oppression describes the harsh treatment people suffer, whereas tyranny names the kind of rule that causes it.
- dictatorship
- Dictatorship is a neutral label for a type of government, while tyranny always carries strong condemnation.
Opposites
Word family
- tyrant noun
- a ruler or boss who uses power cruelly
- tyrannical adjective
- cruel and unjust in the use of power
- tyrannize verb
- to treat people with harsh, unfair control
- tyrannically adverb
- in a harsh and domineering way
Commonly confused: tyranny or tyrant?
tyranny vs tyrant
Tyranny is the abstract system or condition, while a tyrant is the person who exercises it.
Practice
After years of ___, the citizens finally voted in their first free election.
Choose one answer.
Tyranny means harsh, unjust rule, which fits the idea of people finally gaining a free vote. The other nouns do not describe an oppressive government.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tyranny”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.