draconian

Adjective (1)

draconian (comparative more draconian, superlative most draconian)

1. Very severe, cruel, or harsh.
   • The mayor announced draconian budget cuts today.
   • The conflict in the countryside resulted in a far more draconian punishment. The Southern Cross flag flew over the camps of striking shearers, who in revenge for their victimisation burned grass, fences, buildings and even riverboats[…]2009, Stuart Macintyre, A Concise History of Australia, page 125

   Synonyms:

   draconic, draconical, Orwellian, rigid, rigorous, strict, stringent

Adjective (2)

draconian (comparative more draconian, superlative most draconian)

1. (obsolete, except in fiction) Of, relating to, characteristic of, or resembling a dragon.
   • The dragon came low to the earth. It defied every image of a draconian being Kulp had ever seen.2006, Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates, Book Two, →ISBN, page 384
   • A large sandwyrm (which isn't to be confused with a sandworm) popped its draconian head from the earth.2009, Jacob Silvia, Qhoenix, page 73

   Synonyms:

   draconic, draconical, draconine, dragonesque, dragonish, dragonlike, dragony

Noun

draconian (plural draconians)

1. A creature resembling a dragon.
   • ... Draconians are fast. They'll fly to meet us no doubt. I remember after a few moments that the human queen is here as well. I call out to her, “Human queen, you are rescued by the Draconians. Come forth and know that you are safe under[…](Can we date this quote?), Miranda Martin, Draconians Queen, Looking Glass Publications INC
   • ... Draconians keep for pets . Vithacan - Symbionts that attach themselves to other creatures and survive off their emotional energy . Soul suckers is a disrespectful term for their race . Zelerians Race of squid like creatures with few[…]2021 August 31, Miranda Martin, Draconians Shared Bride, Looking Glass Publications INC

Adjective (3) capitalized: Draconian

UK/drəˈkəʊni.ən/US/drəˈkoʊni.ən/

Draconian (comparative more Draconian, superlative most Draconian)

1. Of or relating to Draco, the first legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece.
   • As to the details of the Draconian constitution, it is certainly surprising to find so many institutions and offices referred to, which had hitherto been only known to exist at a later date.1892, F. G. Kenyon, editor, Αθηναιων Πολιτεια: Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, page 12
   • Not a line of the Draconian laws has been preserved in their original form.1893, John Clark Ridpath, Great Races of Mankind: An Account of the Ethnic Origin, Primitive Estate, Early Migrations, Social Evolution, and Present Conditions and Promise of the Principal Families...
2. Alternative letter-case form of draconian.
   • This reverend man, with countenance so demurely benign, with robes so glossy and so clerically flowing, with wig so minutely powdered, so rigid and so vast,—could this be he who, of late, with sour visage, and in snuffy habiliments, administered, ferule in hand, the Draconian laws of the academy?1839, Edgar Allan Poe, William Wilson
   • Cow killing in Cashmere is punished as a worse crime than homicide! Travellers to Cashmere in those days — entering the valley by the Shupeyon route — will perhaps remember the skeleton of a man hanging in rusty chains from a prominent bough of the first large tree which met the eye on emerging...1887, David John Falconer Newall, The Highlands of India II: Field Sports and Travel in India, sect. i, ch. iv, p. 49