come down upon
phr. v..phr. v.. to punish or criticize someone very strongly for doing something wrong.
phr. v.. to reprimand or penalize someone with significant severity; often used when an authority figure enforces rules strictly.
The manager will come down upon anyone who is late.
The government promised to come down upon companies that do not follow the new environmental laws.
The judiciary decided to come down upon the perpetrators with the full weight of the law to deter future white-collar crime.
- Particles
- down upon
- Separability
- inseparable
- Pattern
- come + down + upon + object
usually followed by a person or a group as the object of the punishment.
this is a more formal and forceful version of 'come down on'; the use of 'upon' adds a layer of traditional or legal weight to the expression.
The teacher came down upon to the student.The teacher came down upon the student.the phrase is a transitive phrasal-prepositional verb and takes a direct object without adding extra prepositions like 'to'.