bargaining chip
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of bargaining chip
First recorded in 1970–75
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.
An emotionally overwrought song used savvily as a coldblooded bargaining chip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
"There's no doubt the Taliban would like to be recognised at the UN but it's no longer as potent a bargaining chip as it was at the beginning," they assess.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Way to use the rest of us as a bargaining chip, Dave.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
The company could get aggressive at these auctions by not only collecting spectrum as a potential bargaining chip, but also by bidding up prices and raising the cost of business for its rivals, Zhu noted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
With only a small battery of ICBMs powerful enough to reach the United States, and none of them completely reliable, Khrushchev felt that he needed a much bigger bargaining chip with Kennedy.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
