Words / C / General

clamp down on

verb/klæmp daʊn ɒn/

B2CEFR level
35/100Rarity: fairly common
NeutralRegister

To take firm, strict action in order to stop or restrict an undesirable activity.

The council is clamping down on illegal parking near the school gates.

Similar: crack down on, crack down

Topic: Idioms & phrasal verbs in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

Get words like clamp down on on your lock screen, a few a day, with review that makes them stick.

Download on the App Store Lexfall puts a new word on your home and lock screen through widgets, so you learn without opening an app. Free to download. After a free trial, a subscription unlocks every field. Built for iPhone, iOS 15.1 or later.
QR code that opens Lexfall on the App Store
On a computer?Scan with your iPhone camera.

More general words: Idioms & phrasal verbs