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third-person singular simple present cracks down, present participle cracking down, simple past and past participle cracked down
(idiomatic, often with 'on') To take harsh action (against), as when enforcing a law more stringently than before. quotations examples
He wished he had tens of thousands more troops under Andez's control so he could round up every one of these demonstrators. But it was futile to continue cracking down. The stunnings, beatings and arrests had only inflamed them further.
2009, Kevin J. Anderson, The Ashes of Worlds