壓住一群人的權利
重量落在一群人的權利和自由上。因為壓的是制度層面的東西，所以主詞通常是政府、法律、統治的階層，而不是某個人。
verb · B2
To use power over a group of people in a cruel and unfair way, and to keep them from the rights and freedoms that other people in the same society have.
壓迫
核心畫面
Think of a weight resting on something and never being taken off. Not a blow, which lands and is over, but a steady downward push that does not let up. Oppress can be read that way, and the word wears the picture on its face: press, with a piece in front meaning against. What changes between the uses is only where the weight sits. On a group of people it becomes unfair power — they cannot rise, cannot speak, cannot leave. On one person's mind it becomes mood — the room feels close, the air feels thick, the day feels long.
「oppress」可以想成一個放上去就不拿走的重量。不是打一下，打完就過去了；而是一直往下壓、不放鬆。這個畫面就寫在…更多收起
「oppress」可以想成一個放上去就不拿走的重量。不是打一下，打完就過去了；而是一直往下壓、不放鬆。這個畫面就寫在字面上：裡面是 press（壓），前面的 op- 來自 ob-（對著）。各種用法之間變的只是「壓在哪裡」。壓在一群人身上，就成了不公平的權力——起不來、不能講、走不掉。壓在一個人的心上，就成了心情——房間變窄，空氣變稠，一天變得好長。From the word’s history
The word came through Old French from Latin opprimere, formed from ob- (against) and premere (to press). English press comes from the same premere. So the picture is not a later metaphor added on top; it is what the parts have always said.
這個字經由古法文來自拉丁文 opprimere，由 ob-（對著）和 premere（壓）組成。英文的 press 也是從同一個 premere 來的。所以「壓」不是後來才加上去的比喻，那本來就是這些零件在說的話。
Wiktionary entry supplied in this packet — source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:823919406, etymology_text: 'From Middle English oppressen, from Old French oppresser, from Medieval Latin oppressare … from ob (against) + premere (to press); see press.'
Two branches
壓在心上的重量
同樣的重量，換一個地方放：不是壓權利，而是壓心情。壓你的東西也從有權力的一方，換成一個環境或一個念頭。
verb · C1
If a place, a feeling, or a thought oppresses you, it weighs on your mind and makes you feel low, uneasy, or shut in.
使…感到沉重
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
oppressverb/əˈpɹɛs/
- 1
To keep down by unjust force.
- The rural poor were oppressed by the land-owners.
- 2
To make sad or gloomy.
- We were oppressed by the constant grey skies.
- 3
obsoletePhysically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.
- Most mercilesse of women, VVyden hight, / Her other sonne fast sleeping did oppresse, / And with most cruell hand him murdred pittilesse.
- 4
obsoleteTo sexually violate; to rape.
oppressnoun/əˈpɹɛs/
- 1
obsoleteOppression.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。