heavy-handedness
1
7.6
- noun
- /ˌhɛviˈhændədnəs/
:
brutalidad
- Critics argue that the organization's heavy-handedness during the campaign undermined the democratic process.
Examples
-
The heavy-handedness sparked further unrest, and a month later, the university administration backed down.
Blog text (24) -
When U.S. policy ineptness, overreaching, conflict, and sometimes too-heavy-handedness are added to the possibilities for fragmentation and ungovernability in Mexico itself, they become truly frightening indeed.
Academic text (2000) -
The PA security services have been accused of heavy-handedness in their treatment of Hamas in the West Bank.
Academic text (2011) -
The document recommended that lawmakers avoid heavy-handedness.
Blog text (12) -
This might have seemed like heavy-handedness to the girls, especially Khwezi, who was spending too much time yakkity-yakking on the phone.
Fiction book (1996) -
And meanwhile, the Islamic government hides behind denials of this heavy-handedness.
Blog text (2) -
In this context, the nuclear ambitions, religious fanaticism, and heavy-handedness of the current regime should also be seen as an attempt to revive the passion of the revolution, which its leaders perceived to have disintegrated across large swaths of Iranian society.
Academic text (2011) -
Many residents criticized the government's heavy-handedness in enforcing the new laws, claiming it stifled personal freedoms.
-
The manager's heavy-handedness in dealing with employee complaints made the staff feel undervalued and ignored.
Synonyms
6
4.8
A direct and honest way of speaking that can seem rude
1
7.9
A short, direct way of speaking that often seems rude
1
6.1
Trying too hard to make people do something and annoying them
1
8.4
Treating people in a rude, bossy way and not listening to them
1
7.0
A harsh, rude manner or tone that offends people
1
8.2
A harsh, unkind way of speaking or acting
A lack of skill causing clumsy actions that make things worse
Clumsy or awkward way of doing things that causes problems
A way of acting that is too forceful and hostile in words or actions
Being too bossy and trying to control other people
Being overly controlling and not listening to others
Antonyms
How Forceful
- Offensive
187
5.6
1
8.2
6
4.1
1
7.6
5
3.5
19
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
heavy-handedness = heavy-handed (transparent) = heavy + hand + ed + ness
Formed by adding the noun-forming suffix '-ness' to the adjective 'heavy-handed', yielding the quality or state meaning in a regular way.
Etymology
Heavy-handedness comes from the picture of a heavy ('weighty') hand — a hand that presses down with too much force. So, heavy-handedness means acting in a way that is too forceful and not gentle.