draconian
/drəˈkəʊnɪən
/adjective
(Of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe: the Nazis destroyed the independence of the press by a series of draconian laws...
- The penalty imposed by law is not draconian, and serves more as a reminder to perform a common sense action.
- These hard facts indicate real motives behind enactment of this draconian law.
- There was a time when I would have argued that our libel laws were draconian and should be amended.
Synonyms
harsh, severe, strict, extreme, drastic, stringent, tough, swingeing, cruel, brutal, oppressive, ruthless, relentless, summary, punitive, authoritarian, despotic, tyrannical, arbitrary, repressive, iron-fisted
rare suppressive
Derivatives
draconic
- They hate having to serve years in draconic conditions with little or no pay.
- The draconic appearance of globalisation has seized everything from them.
- We must fight for our right to earn a living and stop this draconic law.
Origin
Late 19th century: from the name of Draco (see Draco2) + -ian.
Draco was a Greek lawmaker of the 7th century bc. His drafting of Athenian law was notorious for its severity. Since the late 19th century draconian has described excessively severe laws and punishments, although draconic was used in the same way from the early 18th century.