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drastic

[dras-tik]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

acting with force or violence; violent.

extremely severe or extensive: a drastic tax-reduction measure.

Origin:
1685–95; < Greek drastikós active, equivalent to drast(ós) (verbal adjective of drân to do) + -ikos -ic

Related forms

dras·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To drastic

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Drastic is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

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Example Sentences

But, seriously, many of the colleges represented here are facing challenges that may require some major and even drastic changes.

If it is not, more drastic action will be required, which might make a big dent in economic growth.

But scientists agree that drastic measures will be needed to avert the ocean crises being created by climate change.

EXPAND

But, seriously, many of the colleges represented here are facing challenges that may require some major and even drastic changes.

If it is not, more drastic action will be required, which might make a big dent in economic growth.

But scientists agree that drastic measures will be needed to avert the ocean crises being created by climate change.

We are rapidly running out of time to control and avoid drastic climate change.

In the less drastic scenario, lawn watering would be restricted to two days a week, if water supplies allow.

Sony hopes its drastic departure in design will differentiate its two tablets enough for you to snag them up.

At any rate, it seemed possible for me to write full-time without a drastic a change in our lifestyle.

In fact, the relaunches have been less drastic than these soundbites suggest.

The report urges drastic policy changes to the ways in which natural resources are used.

Collapse of their populations could have drastic effects on all oxygen-breathing life on the planet.

City officials continue to oversee a drastic change in the town's economy: from coal mining to data mining.

The government points out that it has tried less drastic ways of reducing the tempo menace.

The study suggests that deforestation is not as drastic as it once was and that forests are recovering in many countries.

Drastic changes in world policies for a better world are in sight.

His sonic palette includes sounds culled from sources as simple as sand and as drastic as a burning piano.

Fear of these people made the government shy of drastic change.

Any wildlife attacks would be more bad news for species that have already seen drastic declines.

Car industry experts, however, favor less drastic changes.

Soviet authorities undertook drastic measures to deal with the catastrophe.

The switch from boom to bust has had a drastic effect.

As a result of these drastic climate differences, plants and animals have adapted in unusual ways.

They will die because they cannot adapt to drastic change.

The drastic move comes after significant industrywide declines in the music game business.

Drastic new penalties have been imposed for violating broadcasting laws.

Experts say the drastic reduction in the wild horse population could jeopardize their future survival.

Microsoft's move marks a drastic change in online gaming.

Financial markets are already forcing some into drastic action.

The eagles' arrival precipitated a drastic decline in fox populations.

Bolivia is experiencing drastic environmental upheaval.

We should not be pressed into drastic action on the basis of climate modeling results, certainly not as it stands at this time.

Médioni´s life took a drastic turn when his brother purchased an old piano at the flea market and brought it home.

Tap the home bar and you end up in a home page that benefits from a drastic redesign.

Over a time-span that long, cultural standards of living change in drastic ways.

Widespread clear-cutting of this ancient habitat has subsequently seen drastic declines in marbled murrelet populations.

Of course selling hair is less drastic than an organ.

As the second day of the rescue operation begins, rescuers resort to drastic measures.

How growth and development have created drastic problems for the bay and its watershed.

Many experts now predict the extinction of the orangutan in the wild in our lifetimes if drastic changes are not immediately made.

With the drastic slowdown in the financial sector, the wave of layoffs has crashed upon the legal industry.

Seen in perspective, though, the situation is less drastic than it might appear at first blush.

But sometimes it takes such drastic action to change the direction of your life.

Drastic emissions cuts won't stop the global warming from gases already in the atmosphere.

It could easily become more popular than other more drastic approaches to obesity.

Fischler proposed drastic changes in the way students learn.

If such remedies were prescribed in drastic form, they might well rule out both mergers.

Scientists connect the drastic decreases in lions in part to burgeoning human populations.

During that period, almost all countries around the world made drastic organizational change and.

Before the prospect of a drastic reduction in consumption which this would entail, prices tumbled all.

They are always mentioning people's opposition to tax and social security reform as an excuse to avoid such a drastic reform.

But whether through luck or indecision, her attempts were not drastic enough to end her life before help arrived.

Even drastic body-weight disparities in youth programs could be causing the spike in the number of reported cases.

Elsewhere, more drastic action is being taken against the swans.

Coleman says, in part because employees were hearing about more drastic cuts at other colleges.

Scientists connect the drastic decreases in many cases to burgeoning human populations.

But there are less drastic remedies than repealing the sanctions.

One result could be a drastic consolidation of the industry.

But the drastic cuts will force rapid changes to product line-ups for homegrown carmakers that are in deep trouble.

Well, caterpillars don't have to imagine-they take such drastic steps every day.

There's not much for those who dreamed of a drastic call for an all-fiber network to be built and subsidized by the government.

Either one of those options might make the process of growing out the gray underneath a bit less drastic looking.

Instead it must take the drastic step of leaving the all-you-can-eat buffet for the à la carte restaurant.

This, at a time when our adjunct faculty pool has been drained, and other drastic financial cuts have been made.

For a start, the banking collapse, followed by drastic measures to stop it.

Drastic changes take place in the length of the growing stage when follicles are under the influence of testosterone.

They say only such a drastic measure can force men to take their responsibilities.

While you may be tempted to start researching solar panels, saving electricity does not necessarily require drastic measures.

The genetic research indicates that something caused a drastic reduction in human population around one million years ago.

Then a potentially immediate and drastic consequence caused him to reconsider his choices.

The drastic action was justified by grim economic data.

Put out a bounty on these people and you will soon see a drastic reduction in killings.

But after spending five days trapped in its depths, he knew getting out alive would require drastic action.

People are irrational and foolish, public opinion is skewed and the results can have drastic effects.

The country would meanwhile take drastic steps to reduce its deficit.

The real question is not whether the dollar needs to fall, but how drastic the economic effects of its fall will be.

Scientists connect the drastic decreases in lions in part to burgeoning human populations”.

In the face of drastic dent in fossil fuels and soaring price of them, the hands-off policy reflects economic crash world-wide.

Laura has a serious medical condition that is sure to be exacerbated by the drastic sentence.

More and more people are becoming aware that drastic climate change is not and has not been limited to earth.

Upwelling can cause a drastic drop in ocean temperature.

But reciting that phrase doesn't reveal the subtle effects implied by the drastic demographic shift.

Scientists connect the drastic decreases in lion numbers in many cases to burgeoning human populations.

It led to a drastic change in the physicist's picture of the world, perhaps the biggest that has yet taken place.

Because of this, there are also drastic changes taking place in the context of urbanization.

We've got a bit of fifteenth century parchment which had something pretty drastic done to it in the twentieth century.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

drastic (ˈdræstɪk)

—*adj*
	extreme or forceful; severe

[C17: from Greek drastikos, from dran to do, act]

'drastically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

drastic

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

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"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists."

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drastic

dras·tic