Adjective

(en adjective)

Serving to repress or suppress; oppressive

* 1846 Allan Freer - The North British Review

Human law is indeed repressive', but ' repressive on moral principles comprehensively applied to the whole community, and commanding the approval of the moral sense of the governed

* 1989 Louis Henkin - Right V. Might

First, the classical rule forbids any unilateral right to use force to overthrow a regime on the sole grounds that it is repressive in character.

Adjective

(er)

Very bad or intense.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01

, author=Donald Worster , title=A Drier and Hotter Future , volume=100, issue=1, page=70 , magazine= citation , passage=Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.}}

Strict or harsh.

Sober, plain in appearance, austere.