| word | draconian |
|---|---|
| definition | Extremely severe or cruel. |
| eg_sentence | The severe punishments carried out in Saudi Arabia, including flogging for drunkenness, hand amputation for robbery, and beheading for drug trafficking, strike most of the world as draconian. |
| explanation | Draconian comes from the name of Draco, a leader of Athens in the 7th century B.C. who in 621 B.C. produced its first legal code. The punishments he prescribed were extraordinarily harsh; almost anyone who couldn't pay his debts became a slave, and even minor crimes were punishable by death. So severe were these penalties that it was said that the code was written in blood. In the next century, the wise leader Solon would revise all of Draco's code, retaining the death penalty only for the crime of murder |
| IPA | drəˈkoʊniən |
Tags: mwvb::unit:7, mwvb::unit:7:word, mwvb::word, mwvb::word-cloze, mwvb::word-reverse, obsidian_to_anki
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