grandstand play
Americannoun
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an ostentatious play, as in a sport, overemphasized deliberately to elicit applause from spectators.
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any action or attempt designed to win approval or to make a strong impression.
His going to work on Christmas was another of his grandstand plays.
Etymology
Origin of grandstand play
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Thinking rollback isn’t crazy, but it requires a sustained effort, not a grandstand play.
From Washington Post
Declining Robinson’s insistence that he intervene in the case, Nixon told him that Kennedy had opportunistically made “what our good friend Joe Louis called a ‘grandstand play.'”
From New York Times
This isn’t a grandstand play on my part; I’ve discovered—and you can see it in other entertainers—when they don’t reach out to the audience, nothing happens.
From Slate
As Sam was walking away Joe resolved on a bold stroke, rather a grandstand play as he confessed to himself afterward, but he could not forego it.
From Project Gutenberg
Danny Donohue, the president of the union, had been sharply critical of Mr. Cuomo last month, calling his pension proposal a “grandstand play for the attention of his millionaire friends at the expense of the real working people.”
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
