Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use oppress in a sentence

11 example sentences · verb, noun

Oppress means to keep down by unjust force. Example: “The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.”

Examples of oppress by meaning

verbTo keep down by unjust force.

  • The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.

verbTo make sad or gloomy.

  • We were oppressed by the constant grey skies.

More sentences with oppress

  • Kyriarchy concerns structural power and refers to social systems that dominate and oppress.2023, David L. Blustein, Lisa Y. Flores, editors, Rethinking Work: Essays on Building a Better Workplace, Routledge, →ISBN. From the entry kyriarchy
  • I'd rather make it impossible for him to act in ways that oppress me.1988 December 11, John D'Emilio, “Enemies, Anger, and Militance”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 22, page 5. From the entry tactically
  • All we have to do is kill the mad-dog Nicaraguan who oppresses our people, calling himself a soldier.2014, William W. Johnstone, Tyranny in the Ashes, →ISBN. From the entry mad-dog
  • And if it were all fluid, if it were kind of rainbowy kinds of genders, who could oppress whom?2005, Flora Veit-Wild, Dirk Naguschewski, Body, Sexuality, and Gender, page 66. From the entry rainbowy
  • The organs of gentilism changed from servants of the public will to independent organs of rule oppressing their own people.1909, Friedrich Engels, translated by Ernest Untermann, “Chapter 9”, in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. From the entry gentilism
  • The atmosphere of parchmental dignity was so oppressing that she bent her knees in a curtsy as soon as she stood before his desk.1945, S. D. Peech [pseudonym; Sibyl Moholy-Nagy], Children’s Children, New York, N.Y.: H. Bittner and Company, page 186. From the entry parchmental
  • The organization of tribes for the purpose of the free administration of affairs was turned into an organization for plundering and oppressing their neighbors.1909, Friedrich Engels, translated by Ernest Untermann, “Chapter 9”, in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. From the entry gentilism
  • The Bolsheviks organized unity and class solidarity of the workers and peasants in the oppressed and oppressing nations to fight the propertied classes that exploited their labor.2004 August 12, Leslie Feinberg, “Scientific, not utopian”, in Workers World. From the entry propertied
  • These so-called lesbians throw in with those het womyn who oppress other lesbians, and enhance the myths and stereotypes of lesbianism in the most abusive ways.1984 December 29, Mykki Balduff, “Prisons and Roles”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 6. From the entry throw in with

Meaning of oppress

  1. verb To keep down by unjust force.
  2. verb To make sad or gloomy.
  3. verb Physically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.

Full definition of oppress

Questions about oppress in a sentence

How do you use oppress in a sentence?
Oppress is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.”
What is a short sentence with oppress?
“The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.”
What does oppress mean?
Oppress means to keep down by unjust force.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oppress (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use oppress in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/oppress. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.