Definition

1. Verb:
   • To oppress: To exercise authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.
   • To persecute: To subject someone, especially a particular group, to hostility and ill-treatment, often because of their beliefs or identity.
   • To ill-treat / To maltreat: To treat someone with cruelty or violence.
   • To grind down: To weaken or destroy someone's spirit, health, or resistance through prolonged harsh treatment.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Bọn cai ngục đày ải tù nhân. (The jailers oppressed the prisoners.)
  • Họ bị đày ải vì tín ngưỡng của mình. (They were persecuted for their beliefs.)
  • Không nên đày ải súc vật. (One should not ill-treat animals.)
  • Chế độ khắc nghiệt ấy đã đày ải người dân trong nhiều năm. (That harsh regime ground down the people for years.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often implies a continuous, systematic, and severe process of causing suffering, rather than a single act. It is frequently used in historical or political contexts describing tyranny, unjust imprisonment, or systemic cruelty.

Variants and Related Words

• Đày đọa (v): To torment, to torture. This is a very close synonym, often used interchangeably with "đày ải," but can sometimes imply even more severe physical or mental suffering.
  • Kẻ thù đày đọa anh ấy cả về thể xác lẫn tinh thần. (The enemy tormented him both physically and mentally.)

Synonyms

• Oppress: To keep in subservience and hardship.
• Persecute: To pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment.
• Maltreat: To treat badly or cruelly.
• Tyrannize: To rule or treat someone with cruel and unjust power.

Related Idioms

• Bị đày ải lao lung: To be tormented and forced to wander; to suffer a life of hardship and displacement.
  • Sau chiến tranh, nhiều người bị đày ải lao lung khắp nơi. (After the war, many people were tormented and forced to wander everywhere.)

1. Opress, persecute, ill-treat, grind down
   • Bị giam cầm đày ải
     To be held in custody and ground down