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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Oppressive \Op*press"ive\, adjective [Cf. F. oppressif.]
1. Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law. --Macaulay.
2. Using oppression; tyrannical; as, oppressive authority or commands.
3. Heavy; overpowering; hard to be borne; creating a sense of heavy burden; as, oppressive grief or woe; oppressive heat or humidity; an oppressive workload. [1913 Webster +PJC]
To ease the soul of one oppressive weight. --Pope. -- {Op*press"ive*ly}, adverb -- {Op*press"ive*ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
oppressive
adjective
1: weighing heavily on the senses or spirit; "the atmosphere was oppressive"; "oppressive sorrows"
2: marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior; "the oppressive government"; "oppressive laws"; "a tyrannical parent"; "tyrannous disregard of human rights" [syn: {tyrannical}, {tyrannous}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
129 Moby Thesaurus words for "oppressive": Herculean, absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, agonizing, airless, annoying, arbitrary, arduous, aristocratic, arrogant, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, backbreaking, besetting, black, bleak, bossy, bothersome, breathless, breezeless, brutal, burdensome, close, crushing, cumbersome, cumbrous, demanding, depressant, depressing, depressive, despotic, dictatorial, discouraging, disheartening, dismal, dispiriting, distressing, dolorous, domineering, down, effortful, encumbering, exacting, exhausting, exigent, feudal, forced, grievous, grinding, grueling, hampering, hard-earned, hard-fought, harrowing, harsh, heavy, hefty, high-handed, humid, ill-ventilated, impedimental, impeding, impeditive, imperative, imperial, imperious, incumbent, intolerable, irksome, killing, labored, laborious, lordly, lumpish, magisterial, magistral, massive, masterful, miserable, monocratic, muggy, onerous, operose, overbearing, overburdensome, overpowering, overruling, overwhelming, painful, peremptory, plaguey, punishing, racking, repressive, severe, somber, sticky, stifling, strained, strenuous, strict, stuffy, suffocating, sultry, superincumbent, suppressive, taxing, toilsome, tough, troublesome, trying, tyrannical, tyrannous, unbearable, uncomfortable, unendurable, unvented, unventilated, unwieldy, uphill, vexatious, wearing, wearisome, wearying, weighty, windless, wretched
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |