What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Tyrant vs Tenant - What's the difference?

tyrant | tenant |

As nouns the difference between tyrant and tenant

is that tyrant is (historic|ancient greece) a usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession while tenant is one who pays a fee (rent) in return for the use of land, buildings, or other property owned by others.

As verbs the difference between tyrant and tenant

is that tyrant is (obsolete) to act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical while tenant is to hold as, or be, a tenant.

As an adjective tyrant

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

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

    Related terms

    * tyrannical * tyrannicide, -al * tyrannous * tyranny

    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)

    External links

    * * * ----

    tenant

    English

    Alternative forms

    * tenaunt (obsolete) * tennant (obsolete) * tennaunt (obsolete)

    Noun

    (Leasehold estate) (en noun)
  • One who pays a fee (rent) in return for the use of land, buildings, or other property owned by others.
  • *
  • One who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant.
  • * Cowper
    • sweet tenants of this grove
  • * Cowley
    • the happy tenant of your shade
  • * Byron
    • the sister tenants of the middle deep
  • (legal) One who holds a property by any kind of right, including ownership.

    • Synonyms

    * lessee * renter * rentee

    Derived terms

    * tenancy * tenantless * tenantry

    Related terms

    * * tenement

    See also

    * tenet

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To hold as, or be, a tenant.