Definition of "oppression" []

• The act of oppressing; arbitrary and cruel exercise of power: "There can be no really pervasive system of oppression . . . without the consent of the oppressed” ( Florynce R. Kennedy). (noun)
• The state of being oppressed. (noun)
• Something that oppresses. (noun)
• A feeling of being heavily weighed down in mind or body. (noun)

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.

• "Saying “my oppression is as bad as your oppression” on the basis of subjective feeling is always a dangerous game."
• "Robert Mugabe for what it called oppression of his own people and called for an immediate end to the demolitions of shantytowns."
• "In short it matters not in the least what you baptize oppression, so long as it is oppression, or whether you call your tyrant "Jim" or "My Lord," so long as he is a tyrant."