tyranny
Syllables: tyr·an·ny
More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations
New Zealand/ˈtərəni/Singapore/ˈtirəni/
tyranny noun: a government in which a single ruler (a tyrant) has absolute power, or this system of government; especially, one that acts cruelly and unjustly.
Noun
tyranny (countable and uncountable, plural tyrannies)
- A government in which a single ruler (a tyrant) has absolute power, or this system of government; especially, one that acts cruelly and unjustly.
- The office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
- Absolute power, or its use.
- A system of government in which power is exercised on behalf of the ruler or ruling class, without regard to the wishes of the governed.
- He that with ſhepheards and a litle ſpoyle,
Durſt in diſdaine of wrong and tyrannie,
Defend his freedome gainſt a Monarchie:
What will he doe ſupported by a king?c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC... - Control, dispossession, violence, and tyranny are not “defensive”: they are part of an organized, ongoing aggression.2019 April 28, Hagai El-Ad, “What kind of democracy deports human rights workers?”, in Yoni Molad, transl., +972 Magazine
- He that with ſhepheards and a litle ſpoyle,
- Extreme severity or rigour.
tyranny meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
tyranny in Hindi
- government in which a single ruler has absolute power
- ज़ुल्म zulm, ज़ुलमियत zulmiyat, अत्याचार atyācār
tyranny in Tamil
- government in which a single ruler has absolute power
- கொடுங்கோல் ஆட்சி koṭuṅkōl āṭci
- absolute power, or its use
- கொடுங்கோல் koṭuṅkōl
tyranny in Urdu
- government in which a single ruler has absolute power
- ظُلْم zulm, اِسْتِبْداد istibdād, ظُلْمِیَت zulmiyat
tyranny in Bengali
- government in which a single ruler has absolute power
- অত্যাচার ottacar
More languagesFewer languages
- tyranny in Telugu
- దౌర్జన్యం, నిరంకుశత్వం
- tyranny in Malayalam
- വഞ്ചന
- tyranny in Punjabi
- ਅੱਤਿਆਚਾਰ attiācār, انھیر anher, ਅਨ੍ਹੇਰ anher
- tyranny in Gujarati
- જુલમ
- tyranny in Nepali
- जुल्म
- tyranny in Pashto
- استبداد estebdād, ظلم zᶕləm
- tyranny in Tagalog
- tiraniya
- tyranny in Arabic
- طُغْيَان ṭuḡyān, اِسْتِبْدَاد istibdād
- tyranny in Malay
- penganiayaan, aniaya
- tyranny in Indonesian
- tirani, istibdad
- tyranny in Thai
- ทรราชย์ tɔɔ-rá-râat
- tyranny in Vietnamese
- sự bạo ngược, sự chuyên chế, chế độ chuyên chế
Examples of tyranny in a sentence
- Civil-liberties advocates warned that the expanding surveillance apparatus had created turnkey tyranny.
- The people have successfully stood up against tyranny and totalitarianism.
- We can guarantee that nobody will dare to return tyranny to our continent.
Synonyms of tyranny
Forms of tyranny
| plural | tyrannies |
|---|
Origin of tyranny
Inherited from Middle English tirannye, from Old French tyrannie, from Medieval Latin tyrannia, tyrania, from Ancient Greek τυραννία (turannía, “tyranny”), from τύραννος (túrannos, “lord, master, sovereign, tyrant”).
Words formed from tyranny
Questions about tyranny
- What does tyranny mean?
- Tyranny means a government in which a single ruler (a tyrant) has absolute power, or this system of government; especially, one that acts cruelly and unjustly.
- What is tyranny in Hindi?
- Tyranny in Hindi is ज़ुल्म (zulm), ज़ुलमियत (zulmiyat), अत्याचार (atyācār). See Tyranny meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is tyranny?
- Tyranny is a noun.
- How do you pronounce tyranny?
- Tyranny is pronounced /ˈtərəni/ (New Zealand).
- What is the plural of tyranny?
- The plural of tyranny is tyrannies.
Words near tyranny in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tyranny (page history and authors); tyranny (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tyranny (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); انھیر (Punjabi) (page history and authors); tyranny (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tyranny (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tyrrany.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-tyranny.wav.
Cite this entry: “tyranny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tyranny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.