Clampdown

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sudden repressive or punitive restriction or control.

    "The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus is merely one step towards the imposition of martial law, toward a total clampdown on all forms of peaceful struggle for meaningful change."

  2. 2
    sudden restriction on an activity wordnet

Example

More examples

"The city police have begun a clampdown on speeding in residential areas."

Etymology

Deverbal from clamp down.

Related phrases

clamp down

More for "clampdown"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.