adjective

• 1Clumsy, insensitive, or overly forceful.

  ‘they have admitted they were heavy-handed in their response’

  More example sentences

  • ‘It is narrative driven, without being heavy-handed or overly literal.’
  • ‘Outraged republicans accused the police of heavy-handed tactics.’
  • ‘Pub landlord Paul Morris criticised police for being heavy-handed and has disputed that any drugs were found.’
  • ‘Some say the police did it to gain sympathy for the coming heavy-handed police tactics at the summit.’
  • ‘The riots were seen specifically as anti-police demonstrations provoked by heavy-handed police harassment.’
  • ‘The protesters also want an end to the heavy-handed police tactics that led to the killing of the four demonstrators last week.’
  • ‘Police used heavy-handed tactics to disperse the protesters.’
  • ‘They warned, however, that a heavy-handed police response could trigger mass protests.’
  • ‘Too often they came across as gimmicks, awkward and heavy-handed.’
  • ‘Three years of protests is a long time in a city where the police have developed a reputation for using heavy-handed tactics against demonstrators.’
  • ‘My apologies to the author for what may well be rather heavy-handed paraphrasing of his often quite poetic prose.’
  • ‘Surely the police response was a bit heavy-handed - what order were they disrupting anyhow?’
  • ‘Around fifteen people were arrested after heavy-handed tactics were employed by police.’
  • ‘The heavy-handed tactics resulted in sporadic clashes between protesters and police and numerous arrests.’
  • ‘Killing the arsonist was both heavy-handed and bound to attract further police attention.’
  • ‘It's a good thing the scene was deleted, as it's heavy-handed and the dialogue is awkward.’
  • ‘This was particularly the case in Brixton where the riots are thought to have been sparked off by a certain degree of insensitive and heavy-handed policing.’

  Synonyms

  clumsy, awkward, maladroit, unhandy, all thumbs, inept, unskilful, inexpert, graceless, ungraceful

  insensitive, oppressive, overbearing, high-handed, harsh, hard, stern, severe, tyrannical, despotic, autocratic, ruthless, merciless

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Using too much of something.
     ‘beware of being heavy-handed with the flour’
     More example sentences

     • ‘This intrusion shows how heavy-handed the movie's efforts to be relevant and political are.’