iron fist
11
6.3
- idiom
:
mano de hierro
- It's a dictatorship over there, and Mormons rule with an iron fist!
So he says that the external forces will be the iron fist of government bureaucrats.
- So he says that the external forces will be the iron fist of government bureaucrats.
- Steve is calling for the iron fist of government to get us to comply to justify Steve's Trump's punitive tariffs.
- Glenn, you obviously sit atop and rule with an iron fist a very powerful civic museum.
- How do we avoid the government coming down with an iron fist and saying, yeah, this is this is illegal now?
- But I remember and we never crossed my dad, he he ruled with an iron, with an iron fist and stick.
Examples
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Throughout his reign, the leader ruled his party with an iron fist, ensuring loyalty through fear.
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Hynkel the dictator ruled the nation with an iron fist.
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How do we avoid the government coming down with an iron fist and saying, yeah, this is this is illegal now?
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So the old man ruled with an iron fist?
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Should I enforce this policy with an iron fist?
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In Israel, the "iron fist" policy continues to be employed against Palestinians.
Academic text (1995) -
If you don't rule with an iron fist, you will achieve nothing in a democratic congress.
Blog text (2) -
Over the past 100 years, the country has been ruled with an iron fist by the Herrera family.
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In mid-February of 2011, Gaddafi was confronted with major political protests against his iron-fist control of the country.
Blog text (18) -
Between 1945 and 1980, Yugoslavia was ruled with an iron fist by Marshall Tito, a non-Serb Communist dictator.
Academic text (1997)
Synonyms
3
6.4
Very strict control over people that allows no disagreement
Antonyms
How Harsh
Surface Forms
Morphology
The metaphor is directly built from 'iron' (strong, unyielding) + 'fist' (force, control), so a learner who knows the constituents can infer a sense of harsh or forceful authority. This composition is common cross-linguistically (e.g. 'mano/puño de hierro', 'poigne de fer'), making the meaning immediately accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Iron fist may come from the image of a fist made of iron, a hard metal hand that cannot bend and crushes anything in its way. That's why people use it to mean 'strict or harsh control' today.