From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishoppressop‧press /əˈpres/ verb [transitive] 1 CONTROLto treat a group of people unfairly or cruelly, and prevent them from having the same rights that other people in society have native tribes oppressed by the authorities2 FREE TO DO WHAT YOU WANTto make someone feel unhappy, worried, or uncomfortable The gloom in the chapel oppressed her.Grammar Oppress is often used in the passive.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
oppress• Since colonial times, black people in South Africa have been oppressed by the white minority.• "My people were oppressed by your people for three hundred years, " Cavita commented.• They oppress, depress and divide the forces of possible resistance, and turn ordinary people against them.• The loneliness of her little apartment oppressed her.• The weight of inexpressible or pointless words oppressed him.• They no longer supply pretexts for local bullies to oppress, nor reason for western governments to turn a blind eye.• In fact culture can be used as another guise under which one group can hide to oppress the other.• Machines serve us: technology serves us; our habits oppress us, and enslave us.• Marxists have studied the role of the family in oppressing women.Origin oppress (1300-1400) French oppresser, from Latin oppressus, past participle of opprimere “to press against” 