as in unemotional
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Recent Examples of repressive
Listening to naysayers in Congress twist themselves into pretzels condemning the ayatollah and his brutal repressive regime, but offering no solutions whatsoever, has been disheartening.
—
Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 8 Mar. 2026
For those who have long wished to see the brutally repressive regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gone, there is hope.
—Kara Fox, CNN Money, 6 Mar. 2026
The bombardment killed Khamenei, who presided over a repressive regime for 36 years.
—Eric Cortellessa, Time, 5 Mar. 2026
There should be no tears in the democratic world for Khamenei, who for four decades oversaw a repressive state with terroristic tentacles that extended throughout the world.
—Tim Naftali, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026
Khamenei, 87, who had been in power for more than three decades, was viewed by critics as a repressive authoritarian responsible for the mass murder of thousands of protesters and other human rights abuses.
—Julian Roberts-Grmela, New York Daily News, 2 Mar. 2026
These movies vary wildly in tone and style, but both urgently and movingly revisit the height of the Brazilian military dictatorship during the 1970s — crucial context, since both also emerged from a more recent repressive moment in Brazilian life, the reign of Jair Bolsonaro from 2019-2022.
—David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 2 Mar. 2026
Trump was talking about ordinary Iranians, subjected for almost half a century to a repressive theocracy—a regime that, just weeks prior, had carried out a brutal crackdown on Iranian protesters which possibly saw tens of thousands of people killed.
—Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
The corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons.
—Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 28 Feb. 2026
Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 8 Mar. 2026
For those who have long wished to see the brutally repressive regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gone, there is hope.
—Kara Fox, CNN Money, 6 Mar. 2026
The bombardment killed Khamenei, who presided over a repressive regime for 36 years.
—Eric Cortellessa, Time, 5 Mar. 2026
There should be no tears in the democratic world for Khamenei, who for four decades oversaw a repressive state with terroristic tentacles that extended throughout the world.
—Tim Naftali, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026
Khamenei, 87, who had been in power for more than three decades, was viewed by critics as a repressive authoritarian responsible for the mass murder of thousands of protesters and other human rights abuses.
—Julian Roberts-Grmela, New York Daily News, 2 Mar. 2026
These movies vary wildly in tone and style, but both urgently and movingly revisit the height of the Brazilian military dictatorship during the 1970s — crucial context, since both also emerged from a more recent repressive moment in Brazilian life, the reign of Jair Bolsonaro from 2019-2022.
—David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 2 Mar. 2026
Trump was talking about ordinary Iranians, subjected for almost half a century to a repressive theocracy—a regime that, just weeks prior, had carried out a brutal crackdown on Iranian protesters which possibly saw tens of thousands of people killed.
—Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
The corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons.
—Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 28 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for repressive
Adjective
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The reason why is that all of their star players behaved like Aztec alumnus Kawhi Leonard: unemotional, robotic freaks who do not care about anything other than basketball.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
1 Feb. 2026
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That’s the image projected by Chicago’s pragmatic, unemotional manager, Craig Counsell, who continues to get lustily booed in his hometown.—
Patrick Mooney,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Mort’s definitely gotten the short end of the hybrid human-vampire stick, with an unimpressive ability to read the family dog’s mind.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
2 Mar. 2026
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By Strong’s uniquely high standards, her outing against Creighton was fairly unimpressive.—
Emily Adams,
Hartford Courant,
12 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Repressive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/repressive. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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