tyranny

From Middle English tirannye, borrowed from Old French tyrannie, from Medieval Latin tyrannia, tyrania, from Ancient Greek τυραννία (turannía, “tyranny”), from τύραννος (túrannos, “lord, master, sovereign, tyrant”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɪɹəni/
• Rhymes: -ɹəni

tyranny (countable and uncountable, plural tyrannies)

1. A government in which a single ruler (a tyrant) has absolute power; this system of government.
2. The office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
3. Absolute power, or its use.
4. 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.
5. Extreme severity or rigour.

• (government): autocracy, despotism, dictatorship, monarchy

• anarcho-tyranny
• tyrannical
• tyranny of the majority

• tyrant

• autocracy
• monarchy

• tyranny in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• tyranny in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• tyranny at OneLook Dictionary Search

tyranny

1. Alternative form of tirannye