oppressive
/əˈpɹɛs.ɪv/ adjective
- adjective Burdensome or difficult to bear. “The oppressive tax laws made it difficult to start a small company.”
- adjective (political science, geopolitics) Tyrannical or exercising unjust power. “oppressive smell”
- adjective Weighing heavily on the spirit; being quite intense, excessive or overwhelming. “Will the oppressive heat of summer never end?”
- adjective (climatology, meteorology) Hot and humid.
Synonyms
grinding authoritarian autocratic bossy coercive commanding controlling demanding despotic dictatorial dominant domineering forceful harsh heavy-handed iron-fisted iron-handed monocratic obtrusive brassy tyrannical tyrannous
Etymology
Cf. F. oppressif.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law. Macaulay.
- adjective Using oppression; tyrannical; as, oppressive authority or commands.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “oppressive”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details