oppress• Since colonial times, black people in South Africa have been oppressed by the white minority.• "My people were oppressed by your people for three hundred years, " Cavita commented.• They oppress, depress and divide the forces of possible resistance, and turn ordinary people against them.• The loneliness of her little apartmentoppressed her.• The weight of inexpressible or pointless words oppressed him.• They no longer supplypretexts for local bullies to oppress, nor reason for western governments to turn a blind eye.• In fact culture can be used as another guise under which one group can hide to oppress the other.• Machinesserve us: technology serves us; our habitsoppress us, and enslave us.• Marxists have studied the role of the family in oppressing women.
Originoppress
(1300-1400)Frenchoppresser, from Latinoppressus, past participle of opprimere“to press against”