| n. | 1. | The government or authority of a tyrant; a country governed by an absolute ruler; hence, arbitrary or despotic exercise of power; exercise of power over subjects and others with a rigor not authorized by law or justice, or not requisite for the purposes of government. |
| 2. | Cruel government or discipline; | |
| 3. | Severity; rigor; inclemency. |
| Noun | 1. | tyranny - a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.) Synonyms: dictatorship, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate, Stalinism, totalitarianism, authoritarianism, Caesarism, despotism, absolutism |
| 2. | tyranny - dominance through threat of punishment and violence Synonyms: absolutism, despotism |
TYRANNY, government. The violation of those laws which regulate the division and the exercises of the sovereign power of the state. It is a violation of its constitution.
Caesarism, Nazism, Stalinism, absolute monarchy, absolutism, arbitrariness, argumentum baculinum, aristocracy, autarchy, authoritarianism, autocracy, autonomy, benevolent despotism, big battalions, big stick, bond service, bondage, brute force, captivity, coalition government, colonialism, commonwealth, constitutional government, constitutional monarchy, control, czarism, debt slavery, democracy, deprivation of freedom, despotism, dictatorship, disenfranchisement, disfranchisement, domination, domineering, dominion rule, duarchy, duumvirate, dyarchy, enslavement, enthrallment, fascism, federal government, federation, feudal system, feudalism, feudality, force, garrison state, gerontocracy, heavy hand, helotism, helotry, heteronomy, hierarchy, hierocracy, high hand, home rule, indentureship, iron boot, iron hand, iron heel, kaiserism, limited monarchy, main force, martial law, meritocracy, militarism, military government, mob rule, mobocracy, monarchy, monocracy, naked force, neocolonialism, ochlocracy, oligarchy, one-man rule, one-party rule, oppression, pantisocracy, paternalism, patriarchate, patriarchy, peonage, physical force, police state, pure democracy, regency, reign of terror, representative democracy, representative government, republic, restraint, rule of might, self-determination, self-government, serfdom, serfhood, servility, servitude, slavery, social democracy, steamroller, stratocracy, subjection, subjugation, suppression, technocracy, terrorism, thearchy, theocracy, thought control, thrall, thralldom, totalitarian government, totalitarian regime, totalitarianism, totality, triarchy, triumvirate, ultima ratio, vassalage, villenage, welfare state