tyrannical

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: ty=ran=ni=cal

CIDE DICTIONARY

tyrannical, a. [L. tyrannicus, Gr. : cf. F. tyrannique. See Tyrant.].

 Of or pertaining to a tyrant; suiting a tyrant; unjustly severe in government; absolute; imperious; despotic; cruel; arbitrary; as, a tyrannical prince; a tyrannical master; tyrannical government.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"Our sects a more tyrannic power assume."  [1913 Webster]
"The oppressor ruled tyrannic where he durst."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tyrannical, adj.
1 acting like a tyrant; imperious, arbitrary.
2 given to or characteristic of tyranny.

Derivative

tyrannically adv.

Etymology

OF tyrannique f. L tyrannicus f. Gk turannikos (as TYRANT)

THESAURUS

tyrannical

absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, arbitrary, aristocratic, arrogant, autarchic, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, bossy, brutal, despotic, dictatorial, domineering, feudal, grinding, harsh, heavy-handed, high-handed, imperative, imperial, imperious, lordly, magisterial, magistral, masterful, monocratic, oppressive, overbearing, overruling, peremptory, repressive, roughshod, severe, strict, suppressive, tyrannous, unjust

ROGET THESAURUS

tyrannical

Severity

N severity, strictness, harshness, rigor, stringency, austerity, inclemency, arrogance, precisianism, arbitrary power, absolutism, despotism, dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression, assumption, usurpation, inquisition, reign of terror, martial law, iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway, tight grasp, brute force, brute strength, coercion, strong hand, tight hand, hard lines, hard measure, tender mercies, sharp practice, pipe-clay, officialism, tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian, martinet, stickler, bashaw, despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture, accipitres, birds of prey, raptorials, raptors, severe, strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell, relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative, coercive, tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial, inclement, cruel, haughty, arrogant, precisian, severely, with a high hand, with a strong hand, with a tight hand, with a heavy hand, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi, manu forti, ogni debole ha sempre il suo tiranno.