crackdown
the severe or stern enforcement of regulations, laws, etc., as to root out abuses or correct a problem.
Origin of crackdown
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use crackdown in a sentence
Just as we cannot simply “crack down on guns,” we cannot just crack down on warrior cops and expect life to return to “normal.”
Major League Baseball actually does not penalize usage in the bigs, but does crack down on minor leaguers.
State Rep Pat Garofalo Says NBA Players Are Criminals | Robert Silverman | March 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTJapanese law enforcement uses all the laws available to crack down on the yakuza.
Where Have Japan’s Yakuza Gone? | Jake Adelstein, Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky | March 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOn Friday, key senators pressed the Obama administration to crack down on Russian human rights violators.
But despite a string of high-profile deaths linked to the drug, feds have found it a slippery target to crack down on.
That crack down in the back lane at Edmonton, Blathers, said Mr. Duff, assisting his colleagues memory.
Oliver Twist, Vol. II (of 3) | Charles DickensYou know—why should I crack down on drinking or smoking, for instance, when I do it myself?
Warlord of Kor | Terry Gene CarrThe 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. WalpoleThe 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. FreemanThe eyes are still closed, but a crack down the center of each is visible by the 13th day.
North American Jumping Mice (Genus Zapus) | Philip H. Krutzsch
British Dictionary definitions for crack down
to take severe measures (against); become stricter (with)
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
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.
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