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tyranny

   Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.09 sec.
tyr·an·ny  (tr-n)
n. pl. tyr·an·nies
1. A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power.
2. The office, authority, or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
3. Absolute power, especially when exercised unjustly or cruelly: "I have sworn . . . eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" (Thomas Jefferson).
4.
a. Use of absolute power.
b. A tyrannical act.
5. Extreme harshness or severity; rigor.

[Middle English tyrannie, from Old French, from Late Latin tyrannia, from Greek turanni, from turannos, tyrant.]

tyranny
Noun
pl -nies
1.
a. government by a tyrant
b. oppressive and unjust government by more than one person
2. the condition or state of being dominated or controlled by something that makes unpleasant or harsh demands: the tyranny of fashion drives many women to diet although they are not overweight
tyrannous adj
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.tyrannytyranny - a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
autocracy, autarchy - a political system governed by a single individual
police state - a country that maintains repressive control over the people by means of police (especially secret police)
2.tyrannytyranny - dominance through threat of punishment and violence
ascendance, ascendancy, ascendence, ascendency, dominance, control - the state that exists when one person or group has power over another; "her apparent dominance of her husband was really her attempt to make him pay attention to her"

tyranny
Translations
tyranny [ˈtɪrənɪ] ntiranía
tyranny [ˈtɪrənɪ] ntyrannie f
tyranny [ˈtɪrənɪ] nTyrannei f
tyranny [ˈtɪrənɪ] ntirannia


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
A more complete imagination than Philip's might have pictured a youth of splendid hope, for he must have been entering upon manhood in 1848 when kings, remembering their brother of France, went about with an uneasy crick in their necks; and perhaps that passion for liberty which passed through Europe, sweeping before it what of absolutism and tyranny had reared its head during the reaction from the revolution of 1789, filled no breast with a hotter fire.
"My children," said the Oldest and Wisest Ape in All the World, when he had heard the Deputation, "you did right in ridding yourselves of tyranny, but your tribe is not sufficiently advanced to dispense with the forms of monarchy.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free: we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny.
 
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