tyrannicalty‧ran‧ni‧cal /təˈrænɪkəl/ adjective 
Examples
a tyrannical parent tyrannical laws
ExamplesEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- a tyrannical boss
- a tyrannical regime
- Lewis was a tyrannical boss who frightened and humiliated his employees.
- Thousands of refugees fled the tyrannical regime in search of political freedom.
- Adrian, the tyrannical waitress in a foreign country, had them all spellbound.
- Dennis Quaid is the doughty knight, Bowen, battling David Thewlis' tyrannical king.
- He never asked if she remembered his tyrannical parenting.
- It was this last, clearly tyrannical, action which stirred Anselm to take the only countervailing measure open to him.
- Some people felt that machines exercised a new kind of tyrannical power over them.
- Some treated their staff in a high-handed and tyrannical way.
Longman Language Activatorwords for describing people who are cruel► cruel
behaving in a cruel and unfair way towards someone you have power over → tyrant: someone who is cruel deliberately causes pain or makes people suffer: · Children can sometimes be very cruel.· Brand was a cruel and intimidating man who abused his children and his wife.cruel to: · Her parents were very cruel to her when she was young.
► ruthless so determined to get what you want that you do not care how much you harm other people: · These men are ruthless terrorists and will kill anyone who tries to stop them.· Father could be quite ruthless about getting his own way.· the ruthless dictator, Joseph Stalin
► heartless not feeling any pity and not caring about other people or their problems: · How can you be so heartless?· In his autobiography, he portrays his father as cold and heartless.· She was a heartless, money-grabbing woman who made her fortune from the misery and desperation of others.
► tyrannical using your power to cruelly force other people to do what you want: · Lewis was a tyrannical boss who frightened and humiliated his employees.· Thousands of refugees fled the tyrannical regime in search of political freedom.
► sadistic someone who is sadistic gets pleasure from making other people suffer: · The principal was a sadistic man who enjoyed tormenting his students.· In the film, Khan portrays a murderer who gets a deep sadistic thrill out of killing.· "I'm afraid you will never see your children again,'' he said with a sadistic smile.
► sadist someone who enjoys being cruel to other people: · Andrea's father was an absolute sadist. It's not surprising she hates him.
► bully someone who uses their authority or strength to frighten or hurt someone who is weaker: · A group of kids stood by and watched the school bully beat up a smaller boy.· Critics describe the mayor as an arrogant bully who hates to be contradicted.
► tyrant someone in a position of power who treats other people very cruelly: · She was a tyrant who had absolutely no tolerance for mistakes.
a tyrannical parent tyrannical laws