tyrant

Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.

Adjective

  1. Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.
    • He was most tirant & cruell of all emperours. - c. 1530, John Rastell, Pastyme of People:
    • Thus must I from the smoake into the smother, From tyrant Duke, vnto a tyrant Brother. - c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...
    • ...a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, but tyrant state, and these colonies. - 1775, Abigail Adams, letter in Familiar Letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution (1876), 124

Origin

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.

Forms

tyran

Noun

  1. A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
    • To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice, That Henry liueth still. - c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
    • The reappearance of tyranny [in the 4th century BC] had many reasons... one of the main causes was the development of antagonism between rich and poor; tyrants came to power exploiting a social and political imbalance...
    • Ancient Greek tyrannies appeared once more in great numbers with the breakdown of the polis in the period from the fourth to the second centuries [BC]. These later tyrannies tended to rely on a more narrow class base...
  2. Any monarch or governor.
    • Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria. - 1737, William Whiston translating Josephus, History of the Jewish Wars, I xii §2
  3. A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
    • Tyrannes...be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them. - 1587, Philip Sidney and Arthur Golding, A woorke concerning the trewnesse of the christian religion, translating Philippe...
    • I am the Sonne of Marcus Cato, hoe. A Foe to Tyrants, and my Countries Friend. - 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
    • Here is a Proclamation for a Prince: that proclaims him in whoſe name it is emitted [James II of England], to be the greateſt Tyrant that ever lived in the world, and their Revolt who have diſowned him to be the juſteſt...
  4. Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
    • A plague vpon the Tyrant that I serue - 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • […] a sad tyrant, as my friends the Democrats sometimes are. - 1817, Mary Mitford in Alfred L'Estrange, The life of Mary Russell Mitford (1870), II i 2
  5. A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
    • I was a blasphemar, and a persecuter, and a tyraunt. - 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, :[13]:
    • A pike (called the tyranne of fishes). - 1528, Thomas Paynell translating Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano, Regimen Sanitatis Salerni
    • O dissembling Curtesie! How fine this Tyrant Can tickle where she wounds? - 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
  6. The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
    • The Tyrant... The courage of this little Bird is singular. - 1731, Mark Catesby, The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, I 55:
    • The lesser tyrants (Tyrannulae) are spread over the whole of America, where they represent the true flycatcher... The tyrants are bold and quarrelsome birds, particularly during the season of incubation. - c. 1841,...
    • Tyrant or Tyrant-bird, Catesby applied it solely to...the King-bird..., but apparently as much in reference to its bright crown...as to its tyrannical behaviour to other birds. - 1895, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of...

Forms

tyrants tyran

Synonyms

archon basileus aisymnetes autocrat dictator despot martinet tyrant bird tyrant flycatcher tyrant shrike king bird bee martin

Related

tyranness tyrannical tyrannicide tyrannize tyrannous tyranny tyrantry tyrantship

Derived

black-backed water tyrant chat-tyrant ground tyrant pygmy tyrant shrike-tyrant tit-tyrant tody-tyrant tyrancy tyrant-air tyrant-bird tyrant-chat tyrant-craft tyrantess tyrant-fish tyrant flycatcher tyrant-hater tyrant-hating tyranthood tyrant-killer tyrant-killing tyrant-kind tyrantless tyrantlike tyrant-manakin

Verb

  1. To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.
    • Let thy judgment be king, but not tyrant over it - a. 1661, Thomas Fuller, Of Fancy:
  2. To tyrannize.

Forms

tyrants tyranting tyranted tyran