Tyrant

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtaɪɹənt/

Origin

From Middle English tyrant and tyrante, from Old French tyrant, from the addition of a terminal -t to Old French tiran (cp. French tyran) via a back-formation related to the development of French present participles out of the Latin -ans form, from Latin tyrannus ("despot"), from Ancient Greek τύραννος (turannos, "usurper, monarch, despot"),

Oxford English Dictionary. "Tyrant, n."

of uncertain origin.

Full definition of tyrant

Noun

1. (historic, ancient Greece) A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession
• circa 1330, Robert Mannyng, Mannyng's Chronicle, 51A bastard no kyngdom suld hald Bot if þat he it wan... Of tirant or of Sarazin.
• circa 1374, Geoffrey Chaucer translating Boëthius, De consolatione philosophiæ, III v 59A tyraunt þat was kyng of sysile.
• circa 1595, William Shakespeare, The third Part of Henry the Sixt, with the death of the Duke of York, III iii 71To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice, That Henry liueth still.
• 1980, Michel Austin & al., Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece, 142The reappearance of tyranny the 4th century BC had many reasons... one of the main causes was the development of antagonism between rich and poor; tyrants came to power exploiting a social and political imbalance within the state.
• 1996, Roger Boesche, Theories of Tyranny, from Plato to Arendt, 4Ancient Greek tyrannies appeared once more in great numbers with the breakdown of the polis in the period from the fourth to the second centuries href="http://freewordfinder.com/dictionary/BC/">BC. These later tyrannies tended to rely on a more narrow class base and to use a brutal military rule, and thus writers could use the words tyrant and tyranny, with their modern connotations of evil and cruelty, to describe them accurately.
2. (obsolete) Any monarch or governor
• circa 1340, Richard Rolle, Psalter, XXXII 10Princes, þat is,... tirauntis of þis warld.
• 1382, Wycliffe's Bible, Book of Daniel I 3The sonys of Yrael, and of the kyngus bloode, and the children of tyrauntis.
• 1737, William Whiston translating Josephus, History of the Jewish Wars, I xii §2Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria.
3. A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly
• 1297, Robert_of_Gloucester_(historian), Chronicle, 7689To hom þat wolde is wille do debonere he was & milde & to hom þat wiþsede strong tirant & wilde
• circa 1471, John Fortescue, Works, 453Whan a Kyng rulith his Realme onely to his own profytt, and not to the good of his Subgetts, he ys a Tyraunte.
• 1587, Philip Sidney and Arthur Golding, A woorke concerning the trewnesse of the christian religion, translating Philippe De Mornay, XII 196Tyrannes...be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them.
• circa 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar, V iv 5I am the Sonne of Marcus Cato, hoe.
  A Foe to Tyrants, and my Countries Friend.
• 1888, James Bryce, The American Commonweath, I iv 42They href="http://freewordfinder.com/dictionary/viz./">viz., the Framers of the American Constitution held England to be the freest and best-governed country in the world, but were resolved to avoid the weak points which had enabled George III of England to play the tyrant, and which rendered English liberty, as they thought, far inferior to that which the constitutions of their own States secured.
4. (by extension) Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly
• circa 1290, "Ici poez oyer coment seint Thomas de Kaunterbures nasqui. e de quev manere gent de pere e de Mere." in the South-English Legendary (MS Laud 108), I 128Ore louerd helpe nouþe seint thomas : for oþur frend nath he non,
  A-mong so manie tyraunz for-to come: þat weren alle is fon!
• circa 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, II ii 161A plague vpon the Tyrant that I serue
• 1817, Mary Mitford in Alfred L'Estrange, The life of Mary Russell Mitford (1870), II i 2...A sad tyrant, as my friends the Democrats sometimes are.
5. (by extension) A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly
• 1377, William Langland, Piers Plowman, I 199Attache þo tyrauntz...And fettereth fast falsenesse...And gurdeth of gyles hed.
• circa 1507, William Dunbar, Poems, 95That strang vnmercifull tyrand href="http://freewordfinder.com/dictionary/sc./">sc. Death.
• 1526, Tyndale's Bible, First Timothy I 13I was a blasphemar, and a persecuter, and a tyraunt.
• 1528, Thomas Paynell translating Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano, Regimen Sanitatis SalerniA pike (called the tyranne of fishes).
• circa 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Cymbeline, I i 85O dissembling Curtesie! How fine this Tyrant Can tickle where she wounds?
• 1847, A. Helps, Friends in Council, I viii 132Public opinion, the greatest tyrant of these times.
6. (ornithology) The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidæ, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests
• 1731, Mark Catesby, The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, I 55The Tyrant... The courage of this little Bird is singular.
• circa 1841, Swainson, Penny Cyclopaedia, XXI 415 2The lesser tyrants (Tyrannulæ) are spread over the whole of America, where they represent the true flycatcher... The tyrants are bold and quarrelsome birds, particularly during the season of incubation.
• 1895, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of BirdsTyrant or Tyrant-bird, Catesby applied it solely to...the King-bird..., but apparently as much in reference to its bright crown...as to its tyrannical behaviour to other birds.

Synonyms

• (Greek ruler) archon, basileus, aisymnetes
• (unjust or strict ruler or superior) autocrat, dictator, despot, martinet
• (bird) tyrant bird, tyrant flycatcher, tyrant shrike, king bird, bee martin

Derived terms

Related terms

• tyrannical
• tyrannicide, -al
• tyrannous
• tyranny

Adjective

adjective

1. (uncommon) Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant
• 1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicles, 8005Milce nas þer mid him William non...Ac as a tirant tormentor in speche & ek in dede.
• circa 1530, John Rastell, Pastyme of PeopleHe was most tirant & cruell of all emperours.
2. circa 1600, William Shakespeare, As you Like it, I ii 278
3. Thus must I from the smoake into the smother,
   

• 1775, Abigail Adams, letter in Familiar Letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution (1876), 124...a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, but tyrant state, and these colonies.

Verb

1. (obsolete) To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.