TYRANNY

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tyranny mean? 

• TYRANNY (noun)
  The noun TYRANNY has 2 senses:

1. a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
2. dominance through threat of punishment and violence

  Familiarity information: TYRANNY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TYRANNY (noun)

Meaning:

A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

shogunate; authoritarianism; Caesarism; tyranny; dictatorship; monocracy; one-man rule; totalitarianism; Stalinism; absolutism; despotism

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

autarchy; autocracy (a political system governed by a single individual)

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

police state (a country that maintains repressive control over the people by means of police (especially secret police))

Meaning:

Dominance through threat of punishment and violence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

absolutism; despotism; tyranny

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

ascendance; ascendancy; ascendence; ascendency; control; dominance (the state that exists when one person or group has power over another)