Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Exceedingly harsh; very severe: a draconian legal code; draconian budget cuts.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Same as Draconic.
Wiktionary
- adj. Very severe, oppressive or strict.
- adj. Of or resembling a dragon
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pertaining to Draco, a famous lawgiver of Athens, 621 b. c. Used especially in the phrase Draconian punishment.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to Draco or his harsh code of laws
Etymologies
- After Draco.
Examples
“BAA Chief Executive Colin Matthews said he was dismayed by the decision, which he called "draconian.”
“The report said Cosatu would also like to see the elections postponed to enable the scrapping of what he called draconian laws that restricted political activity and media coverage.”
“GMB, Unison and Unite released a joint statement attacking BCBC Job Evaluation proposals, which they described as "draconian" and "seeking confrontation" with staff.”
“Democrats lashed out at Schwarzenegger for proposing what they called draconian cuts while refusing to hike taxes and coddling corporations, who are due to receive more than $2 billion in tax breaks in 2011.”
“The same critics have been making these claims about every previous attempt to rein in piracy, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that was called a draconian antipiracy measure at the time of its passage in 1998.”
“The crisis is then used as an excuse to bring in draconian measures to close the door to the most needy and vulnerable.”
The Ocean Lady: Rethinking “Illegal” Migration in Canada : Law is Cool
“Dayton said he campaigned and was elected on a promise not to make spending cuts to a level he called "draconian.”
“Some may call it draconian, but i would rather know that i can walk around at night and not worry about getting flogged.”
“Laws passed by Labour have slipped in draconian powers for bin police to enter family homes.”
“No wonder America's Muslim allies, who successfully countered (often in draconian ways) fundamentalist opposition to their rule throughout the 1980s and 1990s, have not yet leaped enthusiastically to answer Washington's long-standing request for help.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘draconian’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Wordaliciousness
Words of a delicious nature ... for whatever reason
@, libidinous, existential, vespertine, draconian, quixotic, pragmatic, incongruous, thrisis, euphemism, eccentric, anachronism and 12 more...
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My Favorite Words
As the title suggests...
marrymemckean A good example of why examples need to be clustered. All of the 'Dragons' examples should be under one larger heading, and all other examples under another 'English usage' heading. especially since the dicdefs don't list "evil creature spawned from Weis and Hickman's imagination" as an option. Jan 28, 2010
kewpid “…draconian anti-terrorism legislation.�? The “draconian�? seems redundant these days. May 19, 2008
slumry That softens it! ;-) Jul 21, 2007
arby I always want this word to have some kind of fantasy component, probably confusing it with dragonian. Jul 21, 2007
man See also draconic Dec 17, 2006