as in harsh
formal + disapproving
unnecessarily strict or severe
The editorial criticizes the draconian measures being taken to control the spread of the disease. draconian punishments
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Recent Examples of draconian
But that’s become much less certain, given the backlash against his draconian immigration enforcement policies; numerous polls show a significant falloff in Latino support for the president, which could hurt GOP candidates up and down the ballot.
—
Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2026
The family is known for murdering its own members, planning atrocities with wildfire, and generally unleashing a draconian rage on the commoners of Westeros.
—James Grebey, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2026
Those draconian measures were never fully enforced.
—Helen Regan, CNN Money, 21 Feb. 2026
The government hadn’t yet adopted all of these broad, new draconian detention rules.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for draconian
Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2026
The family is known for murdering its own members, planning atrocities with wildfire, and generally unleashing a draconian rage on the commoners of Westeros.
—James Grebey, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2026
Those draconian measures were never fully enforced.
—Helen Regan, CNN Money, 21 Feb. 2026
The government hadn’t yet adopted all of these broad, new draconian detention rules.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for draconian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for draconian
Adjective
-
The idea is to use places, such as Antarctica and space, as real-world testbeds where technologies can be proven under genuinely harsh conditions, like extreme cold, isolation, limited logistics, and high system reliability requirements.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Apr. 2026
-
And scientists that have been working on the data have been able to pinpoint that maybe that was the cause of a very harsh winter over Europe that happened in 2010.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Seventy percent of tomatoes consumed in the United States come from Mexico, where the weather was also brutal, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).—
Vanessa Yurkevich,
CNN Money,
17 Apr. 2026
-
For Asmae El Moudir in The Mother of All Lies, that meant using miniatures to coax out details of her family’s experiences during Morocco’s brutal Years of Lead.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Social media users on Twitter, now known as X, were absolutely ruthless with Beltrán at the time.—
Samantha Agate,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
21 Apr. 2026
-
Director Nick Castle’s 1984 sci-fi adventure of a trailer park kid recruited to join an interstellar war against Xur and the ruthless Ko-Dan Armada is still a fantastic flick over 40 years after its original theatrical release.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Their film, created by a Palestinian-Israeli collective during oppressive times, aims to challenge the ongoing expulsion and propose a vision of equality.—
Brande Victorian,
HollywoodReporter,
23 Apr. 2026
-
Their rich odor was almost oppressive.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Dahl’s books are fanciful and imaginative, but also dark, cynical, and mean (and, unfortunately, often reflected his real-life ugliness), spinning stories in which gruesome and unpleasant fates befell rotten kids, and adults were frequently selfish, cruel, and not to be trusted.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Violating that trust is both cruel and unlawful.—
DeJanay Booth-Singleton,
CBS News,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Draconian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/draconian. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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