ironhanded

adjective

Definition of ironhandednext
as in oppressive

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ironhanded
  1. oppressive
  2. severe
  3. tough
  4. rough-and-tumble
  5. ungentle
  6. stern
  7. grim
  8. heavy-handed
Adjective
  • The concrete there takes, to me, a much more miserable, oppressive tone.
    Owen Davies, Curbed, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Boyer is seven years his junior, and Sell struggles to return Boyer’s oppressive flat serve, winning only the first game of the second set.
    Connor Sheets, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2024
Definition of oppressive
Adjective
  • Hurricane Oscar made landfall in far eastern Cuba around the same time as the blackout, throwing a one-two punch that has sapped precious resources in a country suffering from severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
    Reuters, NBC News, 7 Nov. 2024
  • Bill undergoes a moral crisis when his path crosses with a wretched head nun (Emily Watson) at a convent that’s part of the notorious Magdalene Laundries — a place of severe abuse of women.
    Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2024
Definition of severe
Adjective
  • Bosa confirmed Wednesday that playing through a hip injury last game was the toughest pain he’s endured in 5 1/2 seasons.
    Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 15 Nov. 2024
  • The Buffs need to find a way to grind out tough yards on the ground, especially late.
    Kyle Newman, The Denver Post, 15 Nov. 2024
Definition of tough
Adjective
  • The trappings of the Senate were another world from Mr. Abourezk’s rough-and-tumble childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, where his Lebanese parents had immigrated and ran a general store.
    STEPHEN GROVES, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Feb. 2023
  • The startup’s rough-and-tumble experiments are even more telling.
    Justine Calma, The Verge, 24 Feb. 2023
Definition of rough-and-tumble
Adjective
  • But going back to trying to be gentle in ungentle times.
    Stephanie Stradley, Houston Chronicle, 25 Sep. 2020
  • Notes From an Apocalypse is a gentle argument for coming to terms with the precarity of life, published in a moment where people are facing its fragility in an immediate and ungentle context.
    Kate Knibbs, Wired, 16 Apr. 2020
Definition of ungentle
Adjective
  • And in Pennsylvania the Philadelphia district attorney issued a stern warning.
    Luke Barr, ABC News, 5 Nov. 2024
  • Where once there was stern, pensive faces, now there were smiles, heads tilted back.
    Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 4 Nov. 2024
Definition of stern
Adjective
  • Nevertheless, many in Ukraine have displayed a determined — if perhaps grim — realpolitik at the man holding the purse strings of their military rearguard action.
    Alexander Smith, NBC News, 6 Nov. 2024
  • The nation has proved to be humanity’s most cherished fairy tale, and its grimmest.
    Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
Definition of grim
Adjective
  • The keyboard’s trademark shallow key travel remains the same, which is a demerit for heavy-handed typists like myself but should delight light-touch Mac users who prefer little to no resistance when typing.
    PCMAG, PCMAG, 7 Nov. 2024
  • The department has been criticized for its heavy-handed response to those celebrations, with officers being accused of firing less-lethal rounds indiscriminately into crowds, injuring protesters and costing the city millions in settlement payouts.
    Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2024
Definition of heavy-handed
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near ironhanded

ironfisted

ironhanded

ironhearted

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Ironhanded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ironhanded. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

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