clamp down
Britishverb
noun
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.
By the time regulators clamp down on a specific flavor of risky investing, the money has already moved elsewhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
At the time, Starmer argued that mandatory digital ID for workers would make it easier to clamp down on immigrants working illegally and modernise the state.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
That clamp down targeted narratives that suggested studying and hard work were "useless", as well as content that promoted "world-weariness".
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
But the spontaneity that charmed tourists and supported street vendors in Vietnam's capital has subsided in recent months as authorities clamp down on illegal use of footpaths.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
I watched Linda clamp down the cap with the palm of her hand, holding it there, smiling over in Nick’s direction as if none of it really mattered.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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.
