ROGET'S THESAURUS OF ENGLISH WORDS AND PHRASES ...

Phr. Money is the mother's milk of politics [Tip O'Neill].
738. [Absence of authority] Laxity -- N. laxity; laxness, looseness, slackness; toleration
&c (lenity) 740; freedom &c 748.
anarchy, interregnum; relaxation; loosening &c v.; remission; dead letter, brutum
fulmen [Lat.], misrule; license, licentiousness; insubordination &c (disobedience) 742;
lynch law &c (illegality) 964; nihilism, reign of violence.
[Deprivation of power] dethronement, deposition, usurpation, abdication.
V. be lax &c adj.; laisser faire [Fr.], laisser aller [Fr.]; hold a loose rein; give the reins
to, give rope enough, give a loose to; tolerate; relax; misrule.
go beyond the length of one's tether; have one's swing, have one's fling; act without
instructions, act without authority, act outside of one's authority; act on one's own
responsibility, usurp authority.
dethrone, depose; abdicate.
Adj. lax, loose; slack; remiss &c (careless) 460; weak.
relaxed; licensed; reinless † , unbridled; anarchical; unauthorized &c (unwarranted)
925; adespotic † .
739. Severity -- N. severity; strictness, harshness &c adj.; rigor, stringency, austerity;
inclemency &c (pitilessness) 914.1; arrogance &c 885; precisianism † .
arbitrary power; absolutism, despotism; dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering,
oppression; assumption, usurpation; inquisition, reign of terror, martial law; iron heel,
iron rule, iron hand, iron sway; tight grasp; brute force, brute strength; coercion &c 744;
strong hand, tight hand.
hard lines, hard measure; tender mercies [Iron.]; sharp practice; pipe-clay, officialism.
tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian † , martinet, stickler, bashaw † , despot, hard master,
Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture; accipitres † , birds of prey,
raptorials † , raptors † .
V. be severe &c adj.. assume, usurp, arrogate, take liberties; domineer, bully &c 885;
tyrannize, inflict, wreak, stretch a point, put on the screw; be hard upon; bear a heavy
hand on, lay a heavy hand on; be down upon, come down upon; ill treat; deal hardly with,
deal hard measure to; rule with a rod of iron, chastise with scorpions; dye with blood;
oppress, override; trample under foot; tread under foot, tread upon, trample upon, tread
down upon, trample down upon; crush under an iron heel, ride roughshod over; rivet the
yoke; hold a tight hand, keep a tight hand; force down the throat; coerce &c 744; give no
quarter &c (pitiless) 914.1.
Adj. severe; strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising,
exacting, exigent, exigeant † , inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hardnosed,
hard-shell [U.S.], relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching,
unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative; coercive &c
744; tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial; inclement &c
(ruthless) 914.1; cruel &c (malevolent) 907; haughty, arrogant &c 885; precisian † .
Adv. severely &c adj.; with a high hand, with a strong hand, with a tight hand, with a
heavy hand.
at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet.