tyrant
/ˈtaɪɹənt/ noun B2- A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
- A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
- The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
Plural tyrants
From the library
I won’t remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.” The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
“Spada knew what these invitations meant; since Christianity, so eminently civilizing, had made progress in Rome, it was no longer a centurion who came from the tyrant with a message, ‘Cæsar wills that you die.’ but it was a legate à latere, who came with a smile on his lips to say from the pope, ‘His holiness requests you to dine with him.’
As for Albert and Franz, they essayed not to escape from their ciceronian tyrants; and, indeed, it would have been so much the more difficult to break their bondage, as the guides alone are permitted to visit these monuments with torches in their hands.
Sometimes I wonder if she has a guilty memory which haunts her, and sometimes I suspect Barrymore of being a domestic tyrant.
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