Oppress vs. Persecute — What's the Difference?

To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority

To oppress or harass with ill-treatment, especially because of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs.

To cause to feel worried or depressed

To annoy persistently; bother

(Obsolete) To overwhelm or crush.

To pursue in a manner to do harm or cruelty to; especially, because of the victim's race, sexual identity, or adherence to a particular belief.

(transitive) To keep down by unjust force.

To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy.

(transitive) To make sad or gloomy.

To kill many of one species of animal, with the intent of removing them from human habitats.

Physically to press down on (someone) with harmful effects; to smother, crush.

To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship.

To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty.

To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy.

To ravish; to violate.

Cause to suffer;

To put down; to crush out; to suppress.

To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.

Come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority;

Cause to suffer;