oppression.

1. Cruel or unjust exercise of power that restricts people's freedom.

2. A distressing feeling of heaviness, pressure, or being weighed down.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• political oppression
• systemic oppression

On the page

The testimony documented decades of political oppression.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: atmosphere, description. Commonness: moderately common.