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.

It was both the recklessness and, paradoxically, repressiveness of those years that made Van Beirendonck’s generation want to act out, made them want to choose ecstasy over safety.

From New York Times • Sep. 3, 2019

Just as you’re beginning to suspect the show is going to be nothing but an extended comical riff on 1950s repressiveness, discord breaks out in the group, and suddenly the friends are friends no more.

From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2016

Sweden might wish that its passports would be respected, and the United States might regret China’s increasing repressiveness.

From Washington Post • Jan. 31, 2016

She notes a "lack of joy" in both "the puritanism of the west and the repressiveness of the east".

From The Guardian • May 29, 2014

I began by speaking about the increasing repressiveness of the government in the wake of the Defiance Campaign.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela