tyrannicaladj.
/tᵻˈranᵻk(ə)l/, /tʌɪˈranᵻk(ə)l/, U.S. /təˈrænəkəl/ 1. Of, pertaining to, or befitting an absolute ruler or his government; arbitrary; despotic.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > oppression > [adjective] > tyrannical, despotic, or autocratic
tyrant1297
tyrannous1491
Pharaonical1528
tyrannical1560
tyrannizing1589
servile1603
despotical1608
monarchicala1618
Nimrodian1631
autocratoric1641
Dominical1644
despotic1650
Pendragonish1650
autocratical1651
autocratorical1651
Pharaonian1673
autocratic1769
Pharaonic1792
Corsican1804
Napoleonic1810
satrapian1822
satrapical1823
sultanic1827
absolutist1829
absolutistic1841
arbitrary1862
Napoleonistic1870
Nimrodic1877
pre-Hitlerian1942
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccccx Certain places of thempire wer brought into his tirannical power.
1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 131 His gouernment is rather tyrannicall then kinglike: for he is absolute Lord of all the demeanes of the kingdome.
1603 S. Daniel Def. Ryme in Panegyrike (new ed.) sig. G6 Nor is this certaine limit obserued in Sonnets, any tyrannicall bounding of the conceit, but rather a reducing it in girum.
1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 3 This so Tyrannicall an usurpation upon the liberty of mens spirits.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Tyrannical, or Tyrannous, belonging to Tyranny, imperious.
1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece (new ed.) II. xii. 104 Miletus, after the overthrow of a tyrannical dynasty, was split into two factions.
2.
a. Of the nature or character of a tyrant; acting or operating in an oppressive, cruel, or unjustly severe manner.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > oppression > [adjective]
tyrannish1390
oppressinga1475
tyrannica1492
tyranful1533
tyrannicala1538
tyrannous1556
tyranniousc1561
tramplinga1586
suppressing1589
grinding1598
ingrating1599
wringing1620
inquisitory1639
inquisitional1644
oppressive1646
tyrannial1651
grating1653
inquisitorial1796
oppressive1972
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 77 We must schake of al such tyrannycal custumys & unresonabyl bandys.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxvij A tyrannicall gouernor.
1606 W. Warner Continuance Albions Eng. xiv. lxxxv. 351 A wretch so vitious, insolent, tyrannicall and prowd.
a1614 D. Dyke Schoole of Afflict. in Two Treat. (1618) ii. 328 Those tygerly and tyrannicall persecutours.
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. 1 Cor. vii. 12 Such will be tyrannical and malicious Adversaries.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. v. 197 If you must be tyrannical, Madam, indulge your humour in private.
1836 F. Marryat Mr. Midshipman Easy I. xii. 192 Like all those who are seldom in command, the master was proportionally tyrannical and abusive.
1872 J. Morley Voltaire i. 11 A dark and tyrannical superstition.
b. Of, pertaining to, or befitting a tyrant; severely oppressive; despotically harsh or cruel.
ΚΠ
1579 E. K. in E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. July 173 Gloss. In purple, spoken of the Popes and Cardinalles, which vse such tyrannical colours and pompous paynting.
1592 tr. F. Du Jon Apocalypsis ix. 13 The first execution done upon the world by the tyrannical powers thereof.
1641 More's Rich. III Ded. The troublesome and tyrannicall government of usurping Richard the third.
1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures lxi. 248 They shall be chastised by the hand of the Most High God for the crimes of their tyrannicall lives.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 290 As to the king of Prussia, his conduct in Poland was the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be conceived.
1812 W. Scott Let. 4 June (1932) III. 126 I am always prepared to expect the most tyrannical proceedings from professed demagogues.
1884 D. Pae Eustace 23 To his inferiors, his behaviour was most tyrannical.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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