kragdadigheid, noun

/kraxˈdɑːdəxˌheɪt/
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, kragdadig (see kragdadig) + noun-forming suffix -heid -ness.
Heavy-handed, uncompromising autocracy; brute force. Also attributive.
1949 Cape Times 21 Sept. 8Where any evidence can be found in this rigmarole of tentativeness for the kragdadigheid which is supposed to distinguish Nationalist Ministers we fail to see.
1957 Cape Argus 11 Feb. 8Signs of that kragdadigheid of which Cabinet spokesmen claim a monopoly.
1963 H. Suzman in Hansard 29 Apr. 4924As extreme white nationalism is fed by crisis situations and tough measures which are then taken to deal with those situations, so too does Black nationalism feed on this type of so-called ‘kragdadigheid’.
1963 Rand Daily Mail 2 May 2As extreme White nationalism is fed by crisis situations and the tough measures which are then taken to deal with those situations, so too does Black nationalism feed on this type of ‘kragdadigheid’.
1974 Daily Dispatch 4 Feb. 8Already there are distressingly clear pointers that it will be the season for kragdadigheid. On at least four fronts the government has indicated that tolerance of dissent from Nationalist policy will be in short supply.
1976 Time 28 June 19The dour, stocky political patriarch of South Africa..has the iron-fistedness his fellow Afrikaners call kragdadigheid.
1985 Cape Times 21 Sept.Let us forget ‘kragdadigheid’, whether it be governmental in origin or township-inspired.
1988 in Star 28 May 10 (letter)The white teachers at the school are used for ulterior motives. Their ‘kragdadigheid’ mentality is being exploited in clearing up the mess in the department.
1990 R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart 341This was an old Afrikaner philosophy called kragdagidheid, the act of power: you took what you wanted, and held it with your gun and fists.
1991 Personality 18 Mar. 14Kragdadigheid, i.e. ‘ruling by kicking backsides seriously hard’.
1991 A. Van Wyk Birth of New Afrikaner 100P.W. Botha’s so-called Rubicon speech..was as unseemly and untimely an exhibition of kragdadigheid (power play) as a brawl at a prayer meeting.
1993 A. Sparks in Weekly Mail 4 June 6De Klerk’s stand is in line with the government’s new kragdadigheid. The NP is terrified of a massive haemorrhage to the right, and so it is showing that it is the boss.
1993 H. Tyson Editors under Fire 9Balthazar Johannes Vorster’s reputation of cool kragdadigheid (untrammelled power) had become his key to fame.
Heavy-handed, uncompromising autocracy; brute force. Also attributive.
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Afrikaans
kragdadig, adjectiveadj.krakeling, nounn.
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