TYRANT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tyrant mean? 

• TYRANT (noun)
  The noun TYRANT has 3 senses:

1. a cruel and oppressive dictator

2. in ancient Greece, a ruler who had seized power without legal right to it

3. any person who exercises power in a cruel way

  Familiarity information: TYRANT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TYRANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cruel and oppressive dictator

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

autocrat; despot; tyrant

Hypernyms ("tyrant" is a kind of...):

dictator; potentate (a ruler who is unconstrained by law)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tyrant"):

czar (a person having great power)

Derivation:

tyrannize (rule or exercise power over (somebody) in a cruel and autocratic manner)

tyrannize (rule a country as a tyrant)

tyrannous (marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In ancient Greece, a ruler who had seized power without legal right to it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("tyrant" is a kind of...):

ruler; swayer (a person who rules or commands)

Instance hyponyms:

Dionysius; Dionysius the Elder (the tyrant of Syracuse who fought the Carthaginians (430-367 BC))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any person who exercises power in a cruel way

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

his father was a tyrant

Hypernyms ("tyrant" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

tyrannous (marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior)

 Context examples 

I grew heartily ashamed of the pleasing visions I had formed; and thought no tyrant could invent a death into which I would not run with pleasure, from such a life.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

‘On no condition?’ I asked, at the bidding of our tyrant.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Stronger than reason, stronger than cloister teachings, stronger than all that might hold him back, was that old, old tyrant who will brook no rival in the kingdom of youth.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then came the downfall of the tyrant.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I really saw in him a tyrant, a murderer.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr. Murdstone delivers public addresses sometimes, and it is said,—in short, sir, it is said by Mrs. Chillip,—that the darker tyrant he has lately been, the more ferocious is his doctrine.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He was a monstrous tyrant.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

'Alas, my cruel fate condemns me to remain here till my tyrant is destroyed.' 'Where is the villain?' 'In the mauve salon. Go, brave heart, and save me from despair.' 'I obey, and return victorious or dead!'

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)