ironhanded

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ironhanded
Adjective
  • Amid the town’s oppressive atmosphere, Elma’s colleague Saevar could provide salvation.
    Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 10 Oct. 2025
  • In eastern Rajasthan’s poppy fields, an activist son and a farmer mother work to free themselves from oppressive circumstances.
    Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • In some cases, the frost is severe enough to end the growing season and is then referred to as a 'killing frost'.
    CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 11 Oct. 2025
  • In September, a New York judge dismissed two murder charges related to acts of terrorism, including the most severe charge, first-degree murder.
    Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The end result of a tough negotiation that included a nearly two-week blackout of Disney channels on Charter in 2023 was a much closer working relationship between the two.
    Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Just a week after giving birth, Menish took her six-hour Evidence exam from home in December 2023 — one of the toughest finals in the curriculum.
    Tereza Shkurtaj, PEOPLE, 11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • The startup’s rough-and-tumble experiments are even more telling.
    Justine Calma, The Verge, 24 Feb. 2023
Adjective
  • But going back to trying to be gentle in ungentle times.
    Stephanie Stradley, Houston Chronicle, 25 Sep. 2020
  • 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
  • Marc Skinner’s side will face far sterner challenges.
    Megan Feringa, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
  • However, getting first-team reps has come with a stern warning.
    James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • This grim reality evokes a sense of sorrow and powerlessness among women in Paina Bujurg.
    Aishwarya S. Iyer, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2025
  • To the right lay the harbor, its narrow entrance guarded by the grim Morro Castle.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The president’s breakthrough announcement is a strong step forward for patients, and a welcome contrast to the Biden administration’s heavy-handed approach that threatened the innovation that generates new cures.
    Bobby Jindal, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025
  • The sequence is pure spectacle, but amidst the heavy-handed metaphor, there's a timely commentary about the risks of relying on this type of technology at all.
    Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 7 Oct. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Ironhanded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ironhanded. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

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