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Tyrant vs Leader - What's the difference?

tyrant | leader |

As nouns the difference between tyrant and leader

is that tyrant is a usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession while leader is any person that leads or directs.

As an adjective tyrant

is tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.

As a verb tyrant

is to act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.

tyrant

English

(wikipedia tyrant) (Tyrant flycatcher) (Tyrannidae)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (historic, ancient Greece) A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
  • * (Robert Mannyng), , 51:
  • A bastard no kyngdom]] suld hald Bot if he it wan... Of tirant or of [[Saracen, Sarazin.
  • * , III v 59:
  • A tyraunt þat]] was kyng of [[Sicily, sysile.
  • * , III iii 71:
  • To proue]] him Tyrant , this reason may suffice, That Henry [[liveth, liueth still.
  • * 1980 , Michel Austin & al., Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece , 142:
  • 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.
  • * 1996 , Roger Boesche, Theories of Tyranny, from Plato to Arendt , 4:
  • 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.
  • (obsolete) Any monarch or governor.
  • * Richard Rolle, Psalter , XXXII 10:
  • Princes, þat]] is,... tirauntis of [[world, warld.
  • * 1382 , (w, Wycliffe's Bible), I 3:
  • The sonys]] of Yrael, and of the [[king's, kyngus bloode, and the children of tyrauntis .
  • * 1737 , William Whiston translating (Josephus), (History of the Jewish Wars) , I xii §2:
  • Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria.
  • A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
  • * 1297 , , Chronicle , 7689:
  • To hom]] [[withsaid, wiþsede strong tirant & wilde.
  • * John Fortescue, Works , 453:
  • Whan]] a Kyng rulith his Realme onely to his own profytt, and not to the good of his Subgetts, he [[is, ys a Tyraunte .
  • * 1587 , Philip Sidney and Arthur Golding, A woorke concerning the trewnesse of the christian religion , translating Philippe De Mornay, XII 196:
  • Tyrannes ...be but Gods]] scourges which he will cast into the [[fire, fyre when he hath done with them.
  • * , V iv 5:
  • I am the Sonne]] of Marcus Cato, hoe.
    A Foe to Tyrants , and my [[country's, Countries Friend.
  • * 1888 , James Bryce, The American Commonweath , I iv 42:
  • They [ to play the tyrant , and which rendered English liberty, as they thought, far inferior to that which the constitutions of their own States secured.
  • (by extension) Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
  • * in the South-English Legendary (MS Laud 108), I 128:
  • Ore]] louerd helpe weren alle is [[few, fon!
  • * (William Shakespeare), (The Tempest) , II ii 161:
  • A plague vpon]] the Tyrant that I [[serve, serue
  • * 1817 , Mary Mitford in Alfred L'Estrange, The life of Mary Russell Mitford (1870), II i 2
  • a sad tyrant , as my friends the Democrats sometimes are.
  • (by extension) A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
  • * 1377 , William Langland, (Piers Plowman) , I 199:
  • Attache]] þo tyrauntz ...And fettereth fast falsenesse...And gurdeth of gyles [[hid, hed.
  • * William Dunbar, Poems , 95:
  • That strang]] [[unmerciful, vnmercifull tyrand [Death].
  • * 1526 , (w, Tyndale's Bible), I 13:
  • I was a blasphemar, and a persecuter, and a tyraunt .
  • * 1528 , Thomas Paynell translating Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano, Regimen Sanitatis Salerni :
  • A pike (called the tyranne of fishes).
  • * (William Shakespeare), (The Tragedie of Cymbeline) , I i 85:
  • O dissembling Curtesie! How fine this Tyrant Can tickle where she wounds?
  • * 1847 , A. Helps, Friends in Council , I viii 132:
  • Public opinion, the greatest tyrant of these times.
  • The tyrant birds, members of the family , which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
  • * 1731 , Mark Catesby, The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands , I 55:
  • The Tyrant ... The courage of this little Bird is singular.
  • * Swainson, Penny Cyclopaedia , XXI 415 2:
  • The lesser tyrants' (''Tyrannulæ'') are spread over the whole of America, where they represent the true flycatcher... The ' tyrants are bold and quarrelsome birds, particularly during the season of incubation.
  • * 1895 , Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of Birds :
  • Tyrant or Tyrant-bird, Catesby applied it solely to...the King-bird..., but apparently as much in reference to its bright crown...as to its tyrannical behaviour to other birds.

    Synonyms

    * (Greek ruler) archon, basileus, aisymnetes * (unjust or strict ruler or superior) autocrat, dictator, despot, martinet * (bird) tyrant bird, tyrant flycatcher, tyrant shrike, king bird, bee martin

    Derived terms

    * tyrant-air * tyrant-bird * tyrant-chat * tyrant-craft * tyrantess (female form ) * tyrant-fish * tyrant-flycatcher * tyrant-hater * tyrant-hating * tyrant-killer * tyrant-killing * tyrant-kind * tyrant-like * tyrant-murder * Tyrant period * tyrant-queller * tyrant-quelling * tyrant-ridden * tyrant-scouraging * tyrant-shrike * tyrant-slayer * tyrant-tamer * tyrant-wren

    Adjective

    (head)
  • (uncommon) Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.
  • * 1297 , Robert of Gloucester, Chronicles , 8005:
  • Milce nas þer mid him [King William] non...Ac as a tirant tormentor in speche]] & ek in [[deed, dede.
  • * John Rastell, Pastyme of People
  • He was most tirant & cruell of all emperours.
  • * (William Shakespeare), (As you Like it) , I ii 278:
  • Thus must I from the smoake]] into the smother,
    From tyrant' Duke, [[unto, vnto a ' tyrant Brother.
  • * 1775 , Abigail Adams, letter in Familiar Letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution (1876), 124:
  • ...a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, but tyrant state, and these colonies.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.
  • (Fuller)

    leader

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any person that s or directs.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
  • , author=Philip E. Mirowski , title=Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits , volume=100, issue=1, page=87 , magazine= citation , passage=In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.}}
  • # One who goes first.
  • Follow the leader .
  • # One having authority to direct.
  • We elected her team leader .
  • # One who leads a political party or group of elected party members; sometimes used in titles.
  • # A person or organization that leads in a certain field in terms of excellence, success, etc.
  • The company is the leader in home remodeling in the county.
  • # (music) A performer who leads a band, choir, or a section of an orchestra.
  • # (music, UK) The first violin in a symphony orchestra; the concertmaster.
  • An animal that leads.
  • # The dominant animal in a pack of animals, such as wolves or lions.
  • #*
  • # An animal placed in advance of others, especially on a team of horse, oxen, or dogs.
  • #*
  • Something that leads or conducts.
  • # (botany) A fast-growing terminal shoot of a woody plant.
  • #*
  • # A pipe for conducting rain water from a roof to a cistern or to the ground.
  • # (UK) The first, or the principal, editorial article in a newspaper; a leading or main editorial article; a lead story.
  • # (fishing) A section of line between the main fishing line and the snell of a hook, intended to be more resistant to bites and harder for a fish to detect than the main fishing line.
  • # A piece of material at the beginning or end of a to allow the material to the threaded or fed onto something, as a reel of film onto a projector or a roll of paper onto a rotary printing press.
  • # (marketing) A loss leader or a popular product sold at a normal price.
  • # (printing) A type having a dot or short row of dots upon its face.
  • # (printing, in the plural) A row of dots, periods, or hyphens, used in tables of contents, etc., to lead the eye across a space to the right word or number.
  • # (fishing) A net for leading fish into a pound, weir, etc.
  • #*
  • # (mining) A branch or small vein, not important in itself, but indicating the proximity of a better one.
  • # (nautical) A block of hard wood pierced with suitable holes for leading ropes in their proper places.
  • # (engineering) The drive wheel in any kind of machinery.
  • Synonyms

    * (person that leads or conducts) guide, conductor * (one with authority to direct) chief, chieftain, commander * (music) conductor * (dominant animal in group) alpha, pack leader * (engineering) driver, drive wheel

    Derived terms

    * (l) * group leader * leaderboard * leaderette * leaderless * leader of the opposition * leadership * majority leader * minority leader * pack leader * thought leader

    Descendants

    * Portuguese: * Spanish:

    See also

    * baron/baroness * conductor * duke/duchess * emperor/empress * follower * general * governor * king/queen * mayor * monarch * president * sergeant

    Anagrams

    * * English agent nouns ----