crackdown
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of crackdown
1930–35, noun use of verb phrase crack down
Explanation
When an authority uses strict or harsh measures to curb certain behavior, it's a crackdown. A crackdown can be seen as positive or negative, depending on what kind of activity is being limited. The violent crackdown of a repressive government on its citizens is anti-democratic, but your principal's crackdown on bullying is most likely good for everyone in your school. Crackdown, with its sense of "severe discipline," may have originated from the phrase crack the whip, although language experts aren't certain.
Vocabulary lists containing crackdown
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Appeared in the January 21, 2026, print edition as 'Iran’s Regime Defends Its Crackdown'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
In 2015, hundreds of activists and rights lawyers were arrested in what later became known as the 709 Crackdown, named after July 9, the day it was launched.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 15, 2023
Under Operation Crackdown — a program run by the state’s National Guard, Laredo and the Border Patrol — stash houses are demolished to prevent further use.
From New York Times • Aug. 26, 2018
Brash and bombastic, the Crackdown 3 sizzle reel was too confusing to make much sense of.
From Time • Jun. 11, 2017
This book, The Hacker Crackdown, has little to say about "hacking" in its finer, original sense.
From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Sterling, Bruce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
