crackdown

[ krak-doun ]
See synonyms for crackdown on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the severe or stern enforcement of regulations, laws, etc., as to root out abuses or correct a problem.

Origin of crackdown

1
1930–35, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase crack down

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use crackdown in a sentence

  • That crack down in the back lane at Edmonton, Blathers, said Mr. Duff, assisting his colleagues memory.

  • You know—why should I crack down on drinking or smoking, for instance, when I do it myself?

    Warlord of Kor | Terry Gene Carr
  • The reasons that the Soviet Union did not crack down on its former subservient satellite are both obscure and complex.

    Area Handbook for Romania | Eugene K. Keefe, Donald W. Bernier, Lyle E. Brenneman, William Giloane, James M. Moore, and Neda A. Walpole
  • The shock to the latter appeared to have had the effect of jarring it sufficiently to crack down great blocks all along its face.

    Down the Columbia | Lewis R. Freeman
  • The eyes are still closed, but a crack down the center of each is visible by the 13th day.

British Dictionary definitions for crack down

crack down

verb(intr, adverb often foll by on)
  1. to take severe measures (against); become stricter (with)

nouncrackdown
  1. severe or repressive measures

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with crackdown

crackdown

Act more forcefully to regulate, repress, or restrain. For example, The police cracked down on speeding. [1930s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.