Synonyms for heavy-handed
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Overbearing — overbearing, coercive; unnecessarily forceful; harsh, oppressive
overbearing, domineering, harsh, authoritarian, draconian, brutal, oppressive, tyrannical, autocratic, dictatorial, iron-fisted, cruel, despotic, bossy, hard-handed, iron-handed, overstrict rare
2. Unsubtle
unsubtle, bungling, bumbling, left-handed, butter-fingered, handless
3. Ham-handed — clumsy; awkward
ham-handed, ham-fisted informal, maladroit, keck-handed
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Clumsy; awkward.
- adj. 2
Overbearing, coercive; unnecessarily forceful; harsh, oppressive.
- adj. 3
Excessive; overdone.
Do not be too heavy-handed with the salt.
Related words
- Word family
- heavy-handedness
Example sentences
- authoritarian State Capitalism could be democratic or authoritarian.
- overbearing Tom can be overbearing, but he's a generous man.
- draconian The laws were draconian, and were quickly repealed.
- domineering The domineering man pulls everyone into his vortex.
- bungling Anything worth doing is worth bungling.
By length
- 5 letters
- harsh1, cruel2, bossy2
- 6 letters
- brutal2
- 8 letters
- bumbling3, despotic3, bungling3, unsubtle3, handless
- 9 letters
- draconian4, roughshod2, maladroit3
- 10 letters
- oppressive3, tyrannical4, autocratic4, overstrict
- 11 letters
- overbearing4, dictatorial5, domineering4
- 13 letters
- authoritarian6
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (cruel2 = 2 syllables).