draconian
adjective /drəˈkəʊniən/
/drəˈkəʊniən/
(formal)- (of a law, punishment, etc.) extremely cruel and severe
- There have been calls for draconian measures against drug-related crime.
Extra Examples- The newspaper struggled to continue under the regime's draconian censorship laws.
- Trade unions regarded to draft legislation as draconian.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryDraconian is used with these nouns:- cut
- measure
- penalty
- …
Word Originlate 19th cent.: from the name of Draco (7th century BC), an Athenian legislator known for his severity + -ian.