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hard power

British

noun

the ability to achieve one's goals by force, esp military force Compare soft power

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

That hole, for some in Britain, symbolises embarrassing gaps in UK hard power.

From BBC • Mar. 8, 2026

Senior Pentagon officials have expressed a commitment to rebuilding American hard power.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 2, 2025

If we burn that trust, our hard power won't save us.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2025

Unlike the so-called hard power stance of building up a military or a stock of munitions and weapons to deter global rivals, these kinds of “soft power” diplomatic moves take a more subtle approach.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2024

The voice of a woman, harsh, high, and angrily complaining—a voice with all the freshness and the melody gone, and with nothing but the hard power of it left—was the discordantly predominant sound.

From Armadale by Collins, Wilkie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023