All 4 Uses of
oppress
in
Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl
- Outside, you don't hear a single bird, and a deathly, oppressive silence hangs over the house and clings to me as if it were going to drag me into the deepest regions of the underworld.
Chpt 43-10 (definition 1)oppressive = uncomfortable (weighing heavily on the senses or spirit)
- On us--the most oppressed, unfortunate and pitiable people in all the world.
Chpt 44-05 (definition 2) *oppressed = treated harshly and unfairly
- My nerves often get the better of me, especially on Sundays; that's when I really feel miserable. The atmosphere is stifling, sluggish, leaden. How much longer will this increasingly oppressive, unbearable weight press I down on us?
Chpt 44-05 (definition 1) *oppressive = uncomfortable (weighing heavily on the senses or spirit)
- Those terrible Germans have oppressed and threatened us for so long that the thought of friends and salvation means everything to us!
Chpt 44-06 (definition 2)oppressed = treated harshly and unfairly
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