Skip to content
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

tyranny

/ˈtɪəɹəni/

Press play to hear how to pronounce tyranny.

American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
Watch on YouTube ↗

What does tyranny mean?

noun

  1. A government in which a single ruler (a tyrant) has absolute power, or this system of government; especially, one that acts cruelly and unjustly.
  2. The office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
  3. Absolute power, or its use.
More meanings (2)

noun

  1. A system of government in which power is exercised on behalf of the ruler or ruling class, without regard to the wishes of the governed.
  2. Extreme severity or rigour.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈtɪəɹəni/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

The remembrance of her father never approaches her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows takes all livelihood from her cheek.
William ShakespeareThe Complete Works of William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg ebook #100
They might perhaps instruct her daughter, and shield her from the misery, the tyranny, her mother knew not how to avoid.
Mary WollstonecraftMaria; Or, The Wrongs of WomanProject Gutenberg ebook #134
More book examples (3)
There was, at that time, a personage in Paris who had begun to exercise a sort of royal tyranny over authors.
René DoumicGeorge Sand: Some Aspects of Her Life and WritingsTranslated by Alys HallardProject Gutenberg ebook #138
No doubt among the later pagans "the long intolerable tyranny of the senses over the soul" had become a very serious matter.
Edward CarpenterPagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and MeaningProject Gutenberg ebook #1561
When a crapulous tyranny crushes men down into the dirt, so that their very hair is dirty, the scientific course is clear.
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) ChestertonWhat's Wrong with the WorldProject Gutenberg ebook #1717