tyrant

1. (historical, Ancient Greece) A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.Examples: "To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice, That Henry liueth still."; "The reappearance of tyranny [in the 4th century BC] had many reasons... one of the main causes was the development of antagonism between rich and poor; tyrants came to power exploiting a social and political imbalance within the state."; "Ancient Greek tyrannies appeared once more in great numbers with the breakdown of the polis in the period from the fourth to the second centuries [BC]. These later tyrannies tended to rely on a more narrow class base and to use a brutal military rule, and thus writers could use the words tyrant and tyranny, with their modern connotations of evil and cruelty, to describe them accurately."historical

2. (obsolete) Any monarch or governor.Examples: "Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria."obsolete

3. (by extension) Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.Examples: "A plague vpon the Tyrant that I serue"; "[…] a sad tyrant, as my friends the Democrats sometimes are."broadly

4. (by extension) A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.Examples: "I was a blasphemar, and a persecuter, and a tyraunt."; "A pike (called the tyranne of fishes)."; "O dissembling Curtesie! How fine this Tyrant Can tickle where she wounds?"broadly