ironfisted
Americanadjective
-
ruthless, harsh, and tyrannical.
an ironfisted dictator.
-
stingy; tight-fisted.
Etymology
Origin of ironfisted
First recorded in 1850–55; iron + fist 1 ( def. ) + -ed 3 ( def. )
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.
Cassandra, the de-facto leader of the teens, is tenuously ironfisted.
From The New Yorker
The age-old clichés of the ballet world persist: Many call to mind a stereotypical male-dominated, ironfisted, weight-obsessed world that, beyond the competitive drive, pushes women to self-image insecurities.
From Time
She had spent the better part of two decades inside her villa on the shores of Inya Lake, in the moldering former colonial capital of Rangoon, refusing a standing offer to return to her family in England and leave the generals to continue their ironfisted rule, which was unbroken since a 1962 coup.
From Time
To convey his message, Putin has supported a murderous dictator, lectured the U.S. about multilateralism, blackmailed his neighbors into accepting Moscow’s ironfisted embrace, inflamed anti-American and anti-gay sentiments, and brutally cracked down on dissidents.
From Time
Rupert, the ironfisted tightwad, who believed his and his children's money should only be held in the company's stock, had kept his jetset offspring pretty poor compared to other billionaires' children.
From The Guardian
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.
