as in oppressive
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for ironhanded
Adjective
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Women were crucial participants in the 1979 revolution that overthrew the last Shah (king) of Iran and his oppressive rule.—
Ellie Austin,
Fortune,
21 Jan. 2026 -
When you’re surrounded by lush green leaves and bathed in natural light, winter feels less oppressive.—
Leanne Potts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Earlier phases examined high-level safety objectives, passive safety features, cooling systems, containment strategies, and the management of severe accident conditions, with reports from these phases already published.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Jan. 2026
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Norma Sahagun, bargaining chair and special education teacher for moderate to severe disability, said the district is prioritizing management over teachers and students.—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The strategy would give OpenAI a direct hardware presence to complement its software and nearly a billion weekly users of ChatGPT, but faces tough competition from entrenched products without deep operating-system integration.—
Charlie Fink,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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The marketing and positioning of actresses in their roles is tougher than it’s been in recent years because of the insult machinery of man-boy social media and its echoes across society more widely.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The trappings of the Senate were another world from Mr. Abourezk’s rough-and-tumble childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, where his Lebanese parents had immigrated and ran a general store.—
STEPHEN GROVES,
BostonGlobe.com,
25 Feb. 2023
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The startup’s rough-and-tumble experiments are even more telling.—
Justine Calma,
The Verge,
24 Feb. 2023
Adjective
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But going back to trying to be gentle in ungentle times.—
Stephanie Stradley,
Houston Chronicle,
25 Sep. 2020
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Notes From an Apocalypse is a gentle argument for coming to terms with the precarity of life, published in a moment where people are facing its fragility in an immediate and ungentle context.—
Kate Knibbs,
Wired,
16 Apr. 2020
Adjective
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Job prospects for 2026 are looking grim in many ways.—
Erik Sherman,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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Tempted but reluctant to fork out the money, Hana runs some tests on the drug, and finds — in what one hopes is just a grim horror-film twist — that its composition comes down pretty much entirely to human ashes.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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In the video, Caleb said wearing a stern facial expression.—
Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
27 Jan. 2026
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Serious, even stern, Douglas was highly principled, fiercely uncompromising and personally brave.—
John T. Shaw,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Silence and anxiety grip the capital Caracas, caused by the shock of the January 3 attack and the fear of the government’s heavy-handed response.—
Michael Rios,
CNN Money,
6 Jan. 2026
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Across the region, heavy-handed American tactics will risk spurring backlash and unintended consequences.—
Ian Bremmer,
Time,
6 Jan. 2026
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“Ironhanded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ironhanded. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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