play hardball

Idioms  

1. Act aggressively and ruthlessly, as in It's only a month before the election, and I'm sure they'll start to play hardball. This term originated in baseball, where it alludes to using the standard ball as opposed to the slightly larger and minimally softer ball of softball. It was transferred to describe aggressive behavior only in the 1970s.

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Example Sentences

Fen Hampson, an international politics professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University, said Carney has decided “it’s time to take the gloves off and play hardball.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“Canada has decided to take its gloves and play hardball,” Hampson said, adding that Canada is the U.S.’s biggest export market.

From The Wall Street Journal

“At least judging from the first reactions, some European leaders are willing to play hardball,” Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, wrote in a note to clients on Sunday.

From MarketWatch

It’s not always easy, but it’s a lot easier to play hardball as a buyer or seller when you don’t know who you’re dealing with and have no personal relationship and when costs, repairs, and credits are spelled out in writing rather than negotiated informally after the fact.

From MarketWatch

It appears Washington wants to play hardball, much the way Georgia is attempting to do with Wilson, whose countersuit against the Bulldogs claims he was one of several players pressured into signing his NIL contract on Dec. 21, 2024.

From Los Angeles Times