Hypertext Webster Gateway: "oppression"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Oppression \Op*pres"sion\, n. [F., fr. L. oppressio.]
1. The act of oppressing, or state of being oppressed.
2. That which oppresses; a hardship or injustice; cruelty;
severity; tyranny. ``The multitude of oppressions.'' --Job
xxxv. 9.
3. 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 gentlee Sleep First found me, and with soft
oppression seized My drowsed sense. --Milton.
4. Ravishment; rape. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
oppression
n 1: the act of subjugating by cruelty [syn: {subjugation}]
2: kept down by unjust use of force or authority: "the tyrant's
oppression of the people"
3: a feeling of being oppressed [syn: {oppressiveness}]
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