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What is "drastic"

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drastic
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
drastic
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a dramatic/drastic reduction (=surprisingly large)
▪ The most immediate effect of retirement is a dramatic reduction in living standards.
a drastic measure (=an extreme measure)
▪ Drastic measures are needed if we are to combat global warming.
a drastic step
▪ The government is wary of taking any drastic steps that would scare off foreign investment.
dramatic/drastic/radical (=very big, especially in way that is surprising)
▪ The Industrial Revolution was a period of dramatic change.
drastic action (=that has a very severe effect)
▪ The President decided to take drastic action.
drastic/sharp cuts (=big and sudden reductions)
▪ He resigned over drastic cuts in the education budget.
sharp/drastic/severe cutback
▪ sharp cutbacks in the military budget
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
▪ Not that she wanted to lose her virginity - nothing as drastic as that!
▪ Thankfully, prevention of split ends isn't as drastic as the cure.
▪ The cuts, although severe, were not as drastic as had been expected.
▪ The effects on public expenditure have not been as drastic as might have been expected.
▪ The choices ahead are as drastic and clearcut as the choice between trad jazz and new jazz.
▪ He certainly seems to have been asking for something, if not something quite as drastic as he got.
less
▪ He was able to sit up, his back injuries seemed to be less drastic than they had first appeared.
▪ However, other less drastic methods of resolving disagreements are available.
more
▪ A more drastic effect of temperature on the stability of HLA-B5 is evident.
▪ Last year, the Republic of Texas set up headquarters in San Antonio and resolved to take more drastic measures.
▪ The effect on the final rent review would be even more drastic.
▪ Methods for dissociating cells are therefore more drastic and not necessarily compatible with long-term viability.
▪ The wider and more drastic the clause, the more care must be taken to bring it to the buyer's attention.
▪ But now even bigger and more drastic changes are on the horizon.
▪ Labour's Whitehall plans are more drastic.
▪ His own lazy, selfish body might require a more drastic discipline.
most
▪ Assume the most drastic situation, complete closure of the entire euro-dollar market.
▪ Of all physician weight-loss treatments, surgery is the most drastic.
▪ Although Crossroads would change radically during its life under Central's leadership, the most drastic decision came in 1987.
so
▪ With conventional weapons, the destruction is not so drastic, far more controlled, and more accurate and economical.
▪ A: Oh, we don't have to be quite so drastic.
▪ Inland changes to sites over the last 1000 years do not seem to have been so drastic.
▪ Often this passes unnoticed because changes in other areas, such as lifestyle, seem so drastic and appear so obvious.
too
▪ She wondered what the advertising people had in mind for her and hoped it wouldn't be anything too drastic.
▪ The change of government policy can not be too drastic.
▪ This may not sound too drastic, but these overall figures do not do any kind of justice to the overcrowding problem.
▪ Philip wouldn't allow anything too drastic, that was one comfort.
▪ But this seems much too drastic.
▪ Rooms have recently had a lick of paint, but nothing too drastic, making this an unbeatable central London bargain.
■ NOUN
action
▪ I mean to take drastic action in this matter, I assure you.
▪ In the midst of a losing streak, Harbaugh decided drastic action was needed.
▪ Few in the scientific community would argue that the scientific evidence justifies immediate extremely drastic action.
▪ Why did you not, before taking drastic action, send for me?...
▪ But it isn't always necessary to take such drastic action.
▪ But performances have been consistently below par for too long and drastic action needs to be taken.
▪ Not every case requires such drastic action, but it's still a growing problem.
▪ This could have taken years, so the President decided on more drastic action.
change
▪ Also, be prepared to make drastic changes in your occupation.
▪ To hold otherwise would mark a drastic change in our understanding of the Constitution.
▪ Exposure to 2°C caused drastic changes to the growth pattern and even resulted in some leaves failing to emerge.
▪ Unions will disappear entirely or undergo drastic change.
▪ But now even bigger and more drastic changes are on the horizon.
▪ In the early 1980s, the world of work at Sparta underwent a drastic change.
▪ This, in effect, would outlaw the inflationary creation of money - a drastic change, if it happens.
▪ In fact, you can make drastic changes in your tables with just a few keystrokes.
cut
▪ The drastic cuts come a week after Aldershot were wound up and rekindle fears for several Fourth Division clubs facing closure.
▪ He is in favor of drastic cuts in social spending in order to balance the budget.
▪ The council would spend £10m more than Governments limits, putting off the need for drastic cuts.
▪ Jude Medical and Medtronic gained as federal budget talks stalled, making drastic cuts in the Medicare health insurance program less likely.
▪ The liberal democrats and labour say their budget was the only way to prevent drastic cuts.
▪ C., making drastic cuts in Medicare reimbursement unlikely for now.
▪ In practice it has not proved easy to achieve the drastic cuts in spending that are wanted.
▪ California in 1990 enacted a plan requiring drastic cuts in air pollution from automobiles.
measure
▪ The report, drawn up by a special council management team, says drastic measures are needed to stop the decline.
▪ California law protects him from having to take such drastic measures, however.
▪ In any case, there may be no need to resort to the drastic measure of buying with friends.
▪ Companies these days also reduce costs by taking drastic measures within.
▪ Why did I think it necessary to take such drastic measures?
▪ Last year, the Republic of Texas set up headquarters in San Antonio and resolved to take more drastic measures.
▪ On a tough Oxford estate drastic measures were needed to prevent further damage.
▪ Edith's murder is one of several cases that have fuelled demands for drastic measures to stop child abuse.
reduction
▪ Another reason is the drastic reduction in housing benefit in 1988.
▪ The drastic reduction in the number of committees was felt to be impracticable.
▪ He and Dean had just been laid off during a seniority lapse because of a drastic reduction of crews.
step
▪ He predicted a 25 percent fall in national income by the end of the year if drastic steps were not taken.
▪ A conflict between two fellow-workers may not require such a drastic step.
▪ If drastic steps are not taken - a crucial qualification - it seems set to grow even further in the coming years.
▪ It felt like a drastic step, but he felt desperate.
▪ To clear static, persevere by taking drastic steps to fight all interference and distraction.
▪ Yeltsin took drastic steps to move his country toward a market economy, steps that required severe sacrifice for millions of people.
▪ But this would be such a drastic step.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ However, other less drastic methods of resolving disagreements are available.
▪ Obviously, such a drastic revision created a significant amount of tension at the plant.
▪ Other more drastic proposals were ventilated but never put into practice.
▪ Start your kitchen reorganization with a drastic sort-out and throw-out.
▪ The effect on the final rent review would be even more drastic.
▪ The vaccine brought a drastic drop-80 percent-in paralytic polio cases by 1957.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Drastic

Drastic \Dras"tic\, a. [Gr. ?, fr. ? to do, act: cf. F. drastique. See Drama.] (Med.) Acting rapidly and violently; efficacious; powerful; -- opposed to bland; as, drastic purgatives. -- n. (Med.) A violent purgative. See Cathartic.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
drastic

1690s, originally medical, "forceful, vigorous, especially in effect on bowels," from Greek drastikos "effective, efficacious; active, violent," from drasteon "(thing) to be done," from dran "to do, act, perform." Sense of "extreme, severe" is first recorded 1808. Related: Drastically.

Wiktionary
drastic

a. extreme; severe.

WordNet
drastic

adj. forceful and extreme and rigorous; "drastic measures"

Usage examples of "drastic".

Honus Hasta revolted and founded the city of Castrum Mare in the 953rd year of Rome, Castra Sanguinarius was overrun with criminals, so that no man dared go abroad at night without an armed body-guard, nor was any one safe within his own home, and Honus Hasta, who became the first Emperor of the East, swore that there should be no criminals in Castrum Mare and he made laws so drastic that no thief or murderer lived to propagate his kind.

If the dimout was bad in the city proper, it was much more drastic here, close to the shore.

Fortunately, Sperren, Colin Dovekey, and the general had been able to bring him around to consider less drastic measures.

Millie Limeburner of their mid-street kiss, it seemed she needed to take drastic measures.

However, through drastic pruning, Spur had managed to bring three Macouns and one Sunset apple, and a Northstar cherry back into production again.

With Chalmody and Mayberry representing the two extremes - one conservative, the other drastic - it was only plausible that the rest might insist upon a representative being with them.

Depletion of the blood by drastic and poisonous medicines, such as antimony and mercurials, hemorrhages and blood-letting, syphilis, excessive mental or physical labor, as well as a too early use and abuse of the sexual organs, all tend to waste the blood, reduce the tone of the system, and develop scrofula.

On land, the paleobotanic data suggest quite drastic changes at least in the more southern and central part of the Western Interior of North America.

Before the curtain was opened, William Dexter, the genius behind this whole deal, a little bald man with a hearing aid in each ear and the affable, simple face of someone whom kids call by his first name, came out and said a few words about the need for drastic solutions to the problems of war and pollution, for a redefinition of our goals and values.

The reforms of Sixtus are important rather for their comprehensive than for their drastic quality.

The argument was then taken up by the Emperor Ferdinand who sent in an imposing demand for reforms, including the authorization of the marriage of priests, communion in both kinds, the use of the vulgar tongue in divine service, and drastic rules for the improvement of the convents and of the papal courts.

A profusion of shiny resina ornaments rested on the chairs, a vision that caused a drastic rise in my body temperature.

A drastic grain shortage meant political futures at stake, and a growling Treasury, and aediles scrambling to find alternative sources of grain.

Feynman expressed this view more than three decades ago, it applies equally well today What he meant is that although the special and general theories of relativity require a drastic revision of previous ways of seeing the world, when one fully accepts the basic principles underlying them, the new and unfamiliar implications for space and time follow directly from careful logical reasoning.

Dokken knew how often his presence was truly required, and how many brushfires would burn themselves out without drastic intervention.