cracked down
Got much stricter
Cracked down is the past tense of crack down, meaning to take severe or decisive action against something, especially to enforce rules or laws more strictly than before: Police cracked down on street vendors.
The phrase implies a shift from leniency or inattention to aggressive enforcement: After years of looking the other way, regulators finally cracked down on the industry.
- repressedHeld back from expression
- stifledForcibly held in
- raidSudden armed incursion
- law enforcementUpholding legal codes
- restrictedLimited in scope
police raid · policing · punishment · iron fist · audit · sanction · reprimand · prosecution · no nonsense · inspection · curfew · enforcement · penalty · oversight · containment · prohibition · brought to heel · retaliation
cracked downlet slide
Choose not to address
looked the other way · turned a blind eye · let off · let off the hook · tolerated
cracked downlooked away
ignored · disregarded · neglected · brushed aside · swept under the rug
cracked downloosened up
Became more relaxed
liberalized · deregulated · eased up · opened up · freed up
crack, cracked, cracking, cracks, cracker, crackers, down, downer, downs