Word Study
draconian
OXFORD DICTIONARY
draconian, adj. (also Draconic) very harsh or severe (esp. of laws and their application).
Etymology
Drakon, 7th-c. BC Athenian legislator
THESAURUS
draconian
Tartarean, animal, anthropophagous, atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, beastly, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, cruel, cruel-hearted, demoniac, demoniacal, devilish, diabolic, fell, feral, ferocious, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, hellish, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, murderous, ruthless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, sharkish, slavering, subhuman, truculent, unchristian, uncivilized, unhuman, vicious, wolfishROGET THESAURUS
draconian
Severity
N severity, strictness, harshness, rigor, stringency, austerity, inclemency, arrogance, precisianism, arbitrary power, absolutism, despotism, dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression, assumption, usurpation, inquisition, reign of terror, martial law, iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway, tight grasp, brute force, brute strength, coercion, strong hand, tight hand, hard lines, hard measure, tender mercies, sharp practice, pipe-clay, officialism, tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian, martinet, stickler, bashaw, despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture, accipitres, birds of prey, raptorials, raptors, severe, strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell, relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative, coercive, tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial, inclement, cruel, haughty, arrogant, precisian, severely, with a high hand, with a strong hand, with a tight hand, with a heavy hand, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi, manu forti, ogni debole ha sempre il suo tiranno.For further exploring for "draconian" in Webster Dictionary Online