From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishheavy-handedˌheavy-ˈhanded adjective UPSETtaking too much action or extreme action, especially without thinking about other people’s feelings a heavy-handed style of management —heavy-handedness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
heavy-handed• The humour was heavy-handed and, in response to Simon Franks' nervous laugh, Blanche smiled politely.• Newman's pained performance is a slightly heavy-handed but compelling version of the Marlon method.• An incident with a couple of heavy-handed cops touched it off, and the riot was on.• One might have thought that this was the sort of heavy-handed executive action which the Constitutional Court was in business to curb.• The measure passed easily, but heavy-handed government interference in the voting brought the result into question.• It is no surprise that an incident involving heavy-handed policing created the spark to start a new incident.• Penn has been criticized for his heavy-handed style of management.• The somewhat heavy-handed symbolism of the watch not withstanding, the work is a fine contemplation on death.• Irving's new novel contains too much heavy-handed symbolism.• If a president makes heavy-handed use of the authority, Congress will find a way to take it back. 