Hello and welcome back to Daily English! Today’s phrasal verb is “crack down on.” Let’s see if you can guess what it means from these examples.
– Imagine a school where students are always using their phones in class. One day, the principal announces new strict rules: no phones at all, or they’ll be taken away. The school is cracking down on phone use.
– A government sees too many people avoiding taxes, so they send inspectors everywhere. They’re cracking down on tax evasion.
– Parents notice their teenager staying up all night playing video games. They decide to limit screen time and enforce bedtime. They’re cracking down on late-night gaming.
Definition
👉 To crack down on something means to take strong, strict action to stop or control it.
The company decided to crack down on employees arriving late to work.
Social media platforms are cracking down on fake news and harmful content.
The phrase suggests the image of coming down hard, like with a forceful “crack,” to stop a problem. It’s often used in news reports, politics, schools, and family life.
What about you? Can you think of a time when someone cracked down on your behavior—maybe at school, at work, or even at home?