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crackdown

crackdown

73 5.6
Strong actions by officials to stop illegal activity
  • noun
  • /ˈkrækˌdaʊn/
  • Literature
translation icon : represión
  • In response to increased crime rates, city officials initiated a crackdown on drug trafficking and street violence.
  • a government crackdown
  • a police crackdown
  • a military crackdown

Strikes, bombings, race riots and government crackdowns are racking the country.

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Examples

  • And the thing about it is that this crackdown had a few aspects to it.

  • And it led to this, you know, sort of national crackdown on shoplifting.

  • So what you may see is a crackdown on, say, people taking action.

  • And because he had helped us cover the crackdown there, he ended up in prison.

  • In some ways, the latest crackdown reveals nothing new under the sun.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Today, a nationwide crackdown was underway...

  • And I did learn that there was this quiet crackdown going on all across America led by the DEA.

  • I have returned to stand again with those I left behind following the brutal crackdown of the 1989 pro-democracy movement.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Given Lux's failure to make curfew, everyone expected a crackdown.

  • Today you've announced a Federal crackdown on people who disgrace national monuments.

Synonyms

clampdown
vscrackdown
3 6.6

A sudden action by authorities to stop illegal or harmful activity

is a planned series of severe actions to enforce laws against such activity

Antonyms

26 4.6

Not being strict when judging or punishing someone

How Strict

repression
45 7.2
crackdown
  • Literature
73 5.6
enforcement
912 3.9
sanction
  • Formal
577 6.1
penalty
487 2.5
warning
1.0

Surface Forms

crackdown singular
crackdowns plural

Morphology

crackdown = crack (semi-transparent) = down + crack

The word is built from the phrasal element 'crack down', but the sense of severe enforcement is only partly predictable from the two parts. [Postprocessing: moved 'down' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Crackdown comes from the two parts crack and down, where crack suggests a sudden, strong action like a loud 'crack' and down means 'to put down' or 'stop'. So a crackdown is a strong effort to stop bad or illegal activity.