tyrant

CEFRB2

/ˈtaɪɹənt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A cruel ruler who uses power unfairly.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.

Examples

  • Thus, the tyrant succeeded in conquering the kingdom.

  • We will not bend to the will of a tyrant.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings
  1. Any monarch or governor.

  2. A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.

  3. Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.

More examples

In context
  • […] a sad tyrant, as my friends the Democrats sometimes are.

  • Tyrannes...be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them.

  • Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The king was a blank who ruled with an iron fist and ignored the people's needs.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.