croustico-, crousto-, crusto-, croust-, crust-; kroustico-, krousto-, kroust-, krust- +

1. A reference to an attempt to produce uniformity or conformity by heavy-handed and arbitrary means: As the supervisor, Irwin used a procrustean manner and reasoning to make his subordinates comply with his company's standards.
2. Relating to a process of trying to establish strict requirements by using any and all means possible, including violence: Cornelia left the company because she felt that its working standards and the treatment of its employees were too procrustean.

Harris warned his fellow workers that the new manager tended to use procrustean methods to enforce uniformity even if it meant employees could lose their jobs.

3. Etymology: from Greek Prokroustes, "one who stretches" from prokrouein, "to beat, to hammer out, to stretch out"' from pro-, "before" + krouein, "to strike, to beat, to push."

Used in a figurative sense of "aiming to produce conformity by arbitrary means".

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A standard, doctrine, theory, or rule that is enforced uniformly without regard to individual differences by violently eliminating all other alternative viewpoints: "When Brock hired new employees for his company, he presented his procrustean rules or procrustean standards which he expected them to follow."

"Syria is just one example of a regime's procrustean tactics designed to completely eliminate any political dissent."

In programming, a fixed-length string.: "If a string value is too long for the allocated space, it is truncated (made shorter) to fit; and if it is shorter, the empty space is usually padded with space characters."

An arbitrary mold or pattern that something or someone is forced into: "A person once wrote about government procrusteanism which compels identical treatment for everyone in every situation, regardless of each person's individuality."

"Procrusteanism is a failure to recognize the natural differences that exist among people."

"The term procrusteanism comes from Procrustes, a fabled robber of ancient Attica, Greece, who forced travelers to lie on a bed, then lopped off their limbs to make them equal to the length of the bed. If they were too short, he stretched them so they would meet the bed's format."

To stretch or to contract according to some required rule or standard: "In order to standardize procedures in the company, the Chief Executive Officer was accused of procrusteanizing how his administrative staff members were to produce their reports."

Any attempt to reduce people to one standard, one way of thinking, one way of acting, or allowing no choice but to conform to specific requirements: "When Luisa joined the company, she felt as if she were being placed on Procrustes’ bed because of all of the rules that were being enforced on her to fulfill."

In Greek legend, Procrustes placed all who fell into his hands on an iron bed. If they were longer than the bed, he cut off the overhanging parts; if shorter, he stretched them until they fit the bed.

A mythological Greek torturer: "In Greek mythology, Proscrustes was a robber who abducted or captured strangers and forced them to fit perfectly into a bed by either cutting off or stretching their limbs."