From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrepressivere‧pres‧sive /rɪˈpresɪv/ adjective 1 PGCONTROLa repressive government or law controls people in a cruel and severe way SYN oppressive a repressive regime repressive measures2 not allowing the expression of feelings or desires, especially sexual ones —repressively adverb —repressiveness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
repressive• This was a predominantly Protestant force which soon came to be regarded as repressive and bigoted by the Catholic minority.• It thereby assists the maintenance of domestic capitalist interests and elaborates its repressive apparatuses.• The guaranteed absence of external intervention left the regime a free hand to continue its repressive domestic policies.• The country has repressive laws and jails full of political prisoners.• It is feared that this may prove the beginning of further repressive measures.• When we live with war, under a repressive regime we can not close our eyes any more.• Both the Sandinistas and Frelimo came to power after a liberation struggle against highly repressive regimes.• Just as thirty years before, here again were feminist divisions over using the repressive state to enforce women's demands.• The customs were exceedingly repressive toward women. 