as in oppressive
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for ironhanded
Adjective
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Dealing with extreme heat in India, where oppressive temperatures have become a matter of routine in recent years, revealed another disconnect.
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The Shah was so corrupt and oppressive that the 1979 revolution was almost inevitable.
Adjective
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Shortness of breath that becomes severe.
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Europe is the planet’s fastest-warming continent and these kinds of extreme heat waves are only expected to become more severe, frequent and prolonged unless humans rapidly phase out fossil fuels, the scientists said.
Adjective
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Summer 2026 is having a tough time deciding on this season’s dominating nail trend.
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These are typically low-wage jobs that the healthcare industry writ large has had a tough time recruiting for since the pandemic.
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.
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The startup’s rough-and-tumble experiments are even more telling.
Adjective
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But going back to trying to be gentle in ungentle times.
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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.
Adjective
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The tragedy marks the first deaths for the US Wildland Fire Service, a grim milestone for the new federal agency, which launched in January to coordinate firefighting efforts on public land.
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While that’s a grim statistic, change is possible.
Adjective
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Judges have to throw the book at those arrested to teach them a stern lesson.
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However, for students graduating right now, Hammer can't really summon up anything stern to say.
Adjective
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Yes, Israel has been much too heavy-handed in its response to Hamas in Gaza.
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Thorazine is a heavy-handed chemical tool sometimes used not to treat an underlying illness, but to sedate an acute behavioral crisis.
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“Ironhanded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ironhanded. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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