heavy-handed
adjective
Forms heavier-handed heaviest-handed heavyhanded
- adjective (derogatory) Clumsy; awkward.
- adjective Excessive; overdone. “Do not be too heavy-handed with the salt.”
- adjective (derogatory) Lacking subtlety or nuance.
- adjective (derogatory) Overbearing, coercive; unnecessarily forceful; harsh, oppressive.
Synonyms
cack-handed ham-handed ham-fisted maladroit OTT over the top unsubtle on the nose bossy hard-handed iron-handed iron-fisted brutal cruel draconian overstrict authoritarian autocratic coercive commanding bumbling bungling butterfingered handless left-handed roughshod
Etymology
From heavy + hand + -ed, literally “having a heavy hand”. Compare Middle English hevitime, heviteme (“burdensome, grievous, grave”), from Old English hefiġtīme, hefiġtȳme (“grievous, wearisome, tedious, troublesome”).
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “heavy-handed”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details