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hardball
[ hahrd-bawl ]
noun
- baseball, as distinguished from softball.
adjective
- tough or ruthless:
He wasn't ready for the hardball politics of Washington.
- outspoken, challenging, or difficult:
Reporters asked the president some hardball questions.
hardball
/ ˈhɑːdbɔːl /
noun
- baseball as distinct from softball
- play hardball informal.to act in a ruthless or uncompromising way
Idioms and Phrases
- play hardball, to act or work aggressively, competitively, or ruthlessly, as in business or politics.
Example Sentences
What determines how many appointments a president gets is a combination of pure luck and partisan hardball.
They used hardball tactics to push through a map for Oregon that eliminates one highly competitive seat and adds two Democratic-leaning seats.
Last week on Hardball, Kathleen Parker said he is definitely running.
Scott Simkus bemusingly explores it all in Outsider Baseball: The Weird World of Hardball on the Fringe, 1876—1950.
In any case, the healthy sampling below confirms the narrative-friendly qualities of hardball.
Will the Democrats engage in an aggressive, hardball type strategy?
Transfixingly candid and gamely stepping up to the plate for a round of hardball, Lohan seemed to be answering yes.
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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.
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