crackdownnoun [ C ]
uk/ˈkræk.daʊn/us/ˈkræk.daʊn/C2 a situation in which someone starts to deal with bad or illegal behaviour in a more severe way:
There has been a series of government crackdowns on safety in factories.
More examples
- The police are having a crackdown on cyclists without lights.
- The company is having a crackdown on personal internet use.
- The school has started a crackdown on pupils who turn up late.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Preventing and impeding
- avert
- avoid
- avoidable
- bar
- be a drag on sb/sth idiom
- block sth out
- blot
- bottleneck
- derail
- fireproof
- hold out on sb
- hold sb/sth back
- holding pattern
- impede
- impedimenta
- prevention is better than cure idiom
- preventive
- prohibit
- pull
- pull the rug from under sb's feet idiom
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