tyrant
Pronunciation: /ˈtaɪɹənt/
The English word “tyrant” has 9 meanings listed here.
noun
- A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
- Any monarch or governor.
- A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
adjective
- Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.
verb
- To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.
- To tyrannize.
Etymology
From Middle English tyraunt, tiraunt, tyrant, tyrante, from Old French tyrant, from the addition of a terminal -t to tiran (cp. French tyran) via a back-formation related to the development of French present participles out of the Latin -ans form, from Latin tyrannus (“despot”), from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos, “usurper, monarch, despot”), of uncertain origin.
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More English words
- tyrannulet
- tyranny
- tyranny of the majority
- tyranny of the masses
- tyrant flycatcher
- tyrant-manakin
- tyrantess
- tyranthood
About this dictionary
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.