All 13 Uses of
oppress
in
Frankenstein
- But he is generally melancholy and despairing, and sometimes he gnashes his teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him.
Chpt Intr. (definition 1)oppresses = distresses
- Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime.
Chpt 4 (definition 1)oppressed = made uncomfortable
- The light became more and more oppressive to me, and the heat wearying me as I walked, I sought a place where I could receive shade.
Chpt 11 (definition 1)oppressive = uncomfortable and disturbing
- One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it.
Chpt 11 (definition 1)oppressed = made uncomfortable
- Felix soon learned that the treacherous Turk, for whom he and his family endured such unheard-of oppression, on discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and ruin, became a traitor to good feeling and honour and had quitted Italy with his daughter, insultingly sending Felix a pittance of money to aid him, as he said, in some plan of future maintenance.
Chpt 14 (definition 2)oppression = harsh and unfair treatment
- My sufferings were augmented also by the oppressive sense of the injustice and ingratitude of their infliction.
Chpt 16 (definition 2) *oppressive = harsh and unfair
- I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting behind the stupendous mountains of Jura.
Chpt 16 (definition 1)oppressed = made uncomfortable
- I was alone; none were near me to dissipate the gloom and relieve me from the sickening oppression of the most terrible reveries.
Chpt 20 (definition 1)oppression = mental discomfort (distress and worry)
- The sleep into which I now sank refreshed me; and when I awoke, I again felt as if I belonged to a race of human beings like myself, and I began to reflect upon what had passed with greater composure; yet still the words of the fiend rang in my ears like a death-knell; they appeared like a dream, yet distinct and oppressive as a reality.
Chpt 20 (definition 1)oppressive = distressing
- Oppressed by the recollection of my various misfortunes, I now swallowed double my usual quantity and soon slept profoundly.
Chpt 21 (definition 1)oppressed = distressed
- When I recovered I found myself surrounded by the people of the inn; their countenances expressed a breathless terror, but the horror of others appeared only as a mockery, a shadow of the feelings that oppressed me.
Chpt 23 (definition 1)
- Warm tears filled my eyes, which I hastily wiped away, that they might not intercept the view I had of the daemon; but still my sight was dimmed by the burning drops, until, giving way to the emotions that oppressed me, I wept aloud.
Chpt 24 (definition 1)
- This sentiment of the worth of my nature supported me when others would have been oppressed, for I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief those talents that might be useful to my fellow creatures.
Chpt 24 (definition 1) *oppressed = weighed down by distress
Definitions:
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(1) (oppress as in: oppressive heat) to make uncomfortable (weigh heavily on the senses or spirit)
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(2) (oppress as in: oppressive government) to dominate harshly and unfairly; or to make sufferThe meaning of oppress depends upon its context. For example:
- "The authorities oppress political activists," or "The new nation oppressed Native Americans." -- to dominate harshly and unfairly
- "She is oppressed by excessive debt." - made to suffer