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Definition of "tyrannical" []

  • Of or relating to a tyrant or tyranny: a tyrannical government. (adjective)
  • Characteristic of a tyrant or tyranny; despotic and oppressive: a tyrannical supervisor. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "tyrannical" in a sentence
  • "They make it a text and pretext for inveighing against the government, and so weakening its hold on the popular confidence and support; for raising seditious outcries against any restriction of the license to talk and print treason -- what they call tyrannical oppression of the freedom of speech and of the press."
  • "During the second dogwatch, that same evening, Wilde sought out the boatswain and carpenter, and complained to them of what he termed my tyrannical conduct, which, he represented to his two listeners, was of so grossly humiliating a character that it was calculated very seriously to detract from his influence with his followers."
  • "He added that Israel's democracy was a unique model that has surpassed many of what he described as the tyrannical, totalitarian Arab regimes."