ty·ran·ni·cal

(tĭ-răn′ĭ-kəl, tī-) also ty·ran·nic (-răn′ĭk)

adj.

1. Of or relating to a tyrant or tyranny: a tyrannical government.

2. Characteristic of a tyrant or tyranny; despotic and oppressive: a tyrannical supervisor. See Synonyms at dictatorial.

ty·ran′ni·cal·ly adv.

ty·ran′ni·cal·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tyrannical

(tɪˈrænɪkəl) or

tyrannic

adj

characteristic of or relating to a tyrant or to tyranny; oppressive

tyˈrannically adv

tyˈrannicalness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ty•ran•ni•cal

(tɪˈræn ɪ kəl, taɪ-)

also ty•ran′nic,

adj.

1. unjustly cruel or severe; arbitrary or oppressive; despotic.

2. of or characteristic of a tyrant.

[1530–40; < Latin tyrannic(us) (< Greek tyrannikós=týrann(os) tyrant + -ikos -ic) + -al¹]

ty•ran′ni•cal•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	tyrannical - marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior; "the oppressive government"; "oppressive laws"; "a tyrannical parent"; "tyrannous disregard of human rights" tyrannous, oppressive domineering - tending to domineer
	2.	tyrannical - characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule; having absolute sovereignty; "an authoritarian regime"; "autocratic government"; "despotic rulers"; "a dictatorial rule that lasted for the duration of the war"; "a tyrannical government" authoritarian, tyrannic, autocratic, despotic, dictatorial undemocratic - not in agreement with or according to democratic doctrine or practice or ideals; "the union broke with its past undemocratic procedures"

tyrannical

adjective oppressive, cruel, authoritarian, dictatorial, severe, absolute, unreasonable, arbitrary, unjust, autocratic, inhuman, coercive, imperious, domineering, overbearing, magisterial, despotic, high-handed, peremptory, overweening, tyrannous He killed his tyrannical father with a blow to the head.
understanding, democratic, liberal, reasonable, tolerant, easy-going, lax, lenient

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

tyrannical

also tyrannic
adjective

1. Characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to authority:

authoritarian, autocratic, despotic, dictatorial, totalitarian, tyrannic.

2. Having and exercising complete political power and control:

absolute, absolutistic, arbitrary, autarchic, autarchical, autocratic, autocratical, despotic, dictatorial, monocratic, totalitarian, tyrannic, tyrannous.

Translations

إسْتِبْدادي، مُتَجَبِّر، طاغٍ

tyranský

tyrannisch

tyrannique

kegyetlenzsarnoki

harîstjórnar-

tirannico tiranno

tyranský

tiranski

zalimane

专制的暴君的残暴的

tyrannical

[tɪˈrænɪkəl] ADJ → tiránico, tirano

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tyrannical

[tɪˈrænɪk^əl] adj → tyrannique

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tyrannical

[tɪˈrænɪkəl] tyrannic [tɪˈrænɪk] adj → tirannico/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

tyrant

(ˈtairənt) noun

a cruel and unjust ruler. The people suffered under foreign tyrants.

tyrannical (tiˈrӕnikəl) adjective , tyrannous (ˈtirənəs)

of or like a tyrant. a tyrannical ruler; His actions were tyrannous.

tyˈrannically, ˈtyrannously adverb

tyrannize, tyrannise (ˈti-) verb

to rule or treat (a person or people) cruelly and unjustly. He tyrannizes his family.

ˈtyranny (ˈti-) noun

an action, or the method of ruling, of a tyrant. People will always resist tyranny.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king could be.

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Nevertheless, as this young man was in the eye of the law not a man, but a thing, all these superior qualifications were subject to the control of a vulgar, narrow-minded, tyrannical master.

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These oppressive enactments were the produce of the Norman Conquest, for the Saxon laws of the chase were mild and humane; while those of William, enthusiastically attached to the exercise and its rights, were to the last degree tyrannical. The formation of the New Forest, bears evidence to his passion for hunting, where he reduced many a happy village to the condition of that one commemorated by my friend, Mr William Stewart Rose:

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"When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person or body," says he, "there can be no liberty, because apprehensions may arise lest THE SAME monarch or senate should ENACT tyrannical laws to EXECUTE them in a tyrannical manner." Again: "Were the power of judging joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control, for THE JUDGE would then be THE LEGISLATOR.

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And one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Machiavel, had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plain terms, That the Christian faith, had given up good men, in prey to those that are tyrannical and unjust.

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(As to there being no insurrections, although the people share not in the management of public affairs, this is no proof of a well-constituted government, as the kosmoi have no opportunity of being bribed like the ephori, as they live in an [1272b] island far from those who would corrupt them.) But the method they take to correct that fault is absurd, impolitic, and tyrannical: for very often either their fellow-magistrates or some private persons conspire together and turn out the kosmoi .

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The last act was a triumph for the hero, poor and of the masses, the representative of the audience, over the villain and the rich man, his pockets stuffed with bonds, his heart packed with tyrannical purposes, imperturbable amid suffering.

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And the different forms of government make laws democratical, aristocratical, tyrannical, with a view to their several interests; and these laws, which are made by them for their own interests, are the justice which they deliver to their subjects, and him who transgresses them they punish as a breaker of the law, and unjust.

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Tom answered, he could in duty refuse him nothing; but as for that tyrannical rascal, he would never make him any other answer than with a cudgel, with which he hoped soon to be able to pay him for all his barbarities.

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He certainly was to blame occasionally for the asperity of his manners, and the arbitrary nature of his measures, yet much that is exceptionable in this part of his conduct may be traced to rigid notions of duty acquired in that tyrannical school, a ship of war, and to the construction given by his companions to the orders of Mr.

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The passion that held Strickland in bondage was no less tyrannical than love."

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As they had first landed, they had suffered the first transports of the bassa's passion, who was a violent, tyrannical man, and would have killed his own brother for the least advantage--a temper which made him fly into the utmost rage at seeing us poor, tattered, and almost naked; he treated us with the most opprobrious language, and threatened to cut off our heads.

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