1
as in clumsiness
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2
as in oppressiveness
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of heavy-handedness
Ziegler’s humor and sympathy for her characters—including Creon, who desperately wants to do right by everyone—saves the conflict between individual and state from heavy-handedness.
—
Dan Stahl, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026
The Hims & Hers ad is shrewd in its heavy-handedness.
—Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 8 Feb. 2026
Beijing was selected over Almaty, Kazakhstan, as the 2022 host city after four other candidates, including Oslo and Stockholm, withdrew citing costs, high public opposition and IOC heavy-handedness.
—Scott M. Reid, Oc Register, 30 Jan. 2026
Dan Stahl, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026
The Hims & Hers ad is shrewd in its heavy-handedness.
—Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 8 Feb. 2026
Beijing was selected over Almaty, Kazakhstan, as the 2022 host city after four other candidates, including Oslo and Stockholm, withdrew citing costs, high public opposition and IOC heavy-handedness.
—Scott M. Reid, Oc Register, 30 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heavy-handedness
Noun
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For Perssonatti, the disease is more about fatigue, brain fog, word salad, and clumsiness.—
Pamela McLoughlin,
Hartford Courant,
10 Mar. 2026
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The desire for more speed also demonstrated some of the internal clumsiness Weiss and her close inner circle have lamented on the technical side.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
2 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Only when Bouzid deals with the repercussions of homophobic Tunisian laws does the melodrama tip into ham-handedness.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Sunlight naturally sanitizes, and air drying prevents the harshness of high heat.—
Ashlyn Needham,
Southern Living,
14 Feb. 2026
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The tinted visor that Morgan Geekie wore for two games against the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars in January could help mute the lights’ harshness.—
Fluto Shinzawa,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In came Willis, full of hope and inexperience.—
Dave Hyde,
Sun Sentinel,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Newey also revealed that Aston only became aware of the inexperience within Honda’s F1 program late last year during a meeting in Tokyo to discuss rumors that Honda was behind its targets for the first race.—
Luke Smith,
New York Times,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Mikey Madison does a stellar job of switching back and forth between homicidal malevolence and victimhood, going straight for pity whenever Amber is cornered.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2026
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Almost: Childhood is both bliss and terror, and the Richard D. James Album takes care to wrap malevolence and innocence tightly into the same steel coil.—
Sasha Geffen,
Pitchfork,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
There’s some rudeness, aggressive conversations, and crudeness, but nothing too over the top.—
Lynnette Nicholas,
Parents,
4 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Scott inflicts Ohm’s nonchalant meanness with a piercingly perverse matter-of-factness that places the character as far away as possible from the realm of likeability.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
15 Mar. 2026
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There is still some of that here, but a lot of Martin’s light-touch meanness is drowned out by his insistence on describing his characters within the context of early COVID — pulling out those masks from the closet.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 Mar. 2026
Noun
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These surrenders might occur because of unpreparedness or life changes.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Heavy-handedness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heavy-handedness. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.
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