be+oppressive

  • 1Oppressive — Op*press ive, a. [Cf. F. oppressif.] 1. Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law. Macaulay. [1913 Webster] 2. Using oppression; tyrannical; as,… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2oppressive — [adj1] overwhelming, repressive backbreaking*, bleak, brutal, burdensome, confining, cruel, demanding, depressing, depressive, despotic, dictatorial, discouraging, disheartening, dismal, dispiriting, exacting, exigent, gloomy, grievous, grinding …

    New thesaurus

  • 3oppressive — I adjective afflictive, arduous, burdensome, confining, cruel, crushing, cumbersome, cumbrous, depressing, detrimental, devouring, difficult, difficult to bear, distressing, engulfing, exacting, exhausting, fatiguing, formidable, galling,… …

    Law dictionary

  • 4oppressive act — index ground Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 5oppressive exaction — index blackmail, coercion, extortion Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 6oppressive taskmaster — index dictator Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 7oppressive — (adj.) 1641, from M.L. oppressivus, from pp. stem of opprimere (see OPPRESS (Cf. oppress)). Related: Oppressively; oppressiveness …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 8oppressive — *onerous, burdensome, exacting Analogous words: extorting or extortionate, extracting (see corresponding verbs at EDUCE): compelling or compulsory, coercing or coercion, constraining, obliging or obligatory (see corresponding verbs at FORCE):… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 9oppressive — ► ADJECTIVE 1) harsh and authoritarian. 2) weighing heavily on the mind or spirits. 3) (of weather) close and sultry. DERIVATIVES oppressively adverb oppressiveness noun …

    English terms dictionary

  • 10oppressive — [ə pres′iv] adj. [ME oppressivus < L oppressus: see OPPRESS] 1. hard to put up with; causing great discomfort or fatigue 2. cruelly overbearing; tyrannical 3. weighing heavily on the mind, spirits, or senses; distressing SYN. ONEROUS… …

    English World dictionary