oppressive
Think of something crushing you, and you will understand what oppressive is. It can be something that crushes your spirit, like a bad relationship, or something that crushes you with its tyranny, like the oppressive rule of a dictator.
Oppressive comes in many flavors; laws can be oppressive, governments can be oppressive, even relationships can be oppressive. The adjective oppressive is heavy stuff; it can feel like you can't breathe, like something is choking you: "His oppressive behavior made me feel like I was being smothered." If something is just too intense, and not in a good way, that also can feel oppressive.
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weighing heavily on the senses or spirit“the atmosphere was oppressive”“oppressive sorrows”synonyms:heavymarked by great psychological weight; weighted down especially with sadness or troubles or weariness
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marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior“the oppressive government”“oppressive laws”synonyms: tyrannical, tyrannousdomineeringtending to domineer
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Vocabulary lists containing oppressive
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