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  • square deal
    square deal
    noun
    a fair and honest arrangement or transaction.
  • Square Deal
    Square Deal
    noun
    the stated policy of President Theodore Roosevelt, originally promising fairness in all dealings with labor and management and later extended to include other groups.
Synonyms

square deal

1 American  

noun

  1. a fair and honest arrangement or transaction.


Square Deal 2 American  

noun

U.S. History.
  1. the stated policy of President Theodore Roosevelt, originally promising fairness in all dealings with labor and management and later extended to include other groups.


square deal Idioms  
  1. A just, equitable arrangement or transaction, as in I know I'll get a square deal if I work with that supplier. This idiom uses square in the sense of “fair” or “honest,” a usage dating from the 1300s. [Late 1800s]


Etymology

Origin of square deal

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

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.

See Examples For:

“Haven’t I given you a square deal, Miss Goldman?”

From The New Yorker Nov. 4, 2019

“I will apply the law faithfully and fearlessly and without regard to persons. … Any law is going to get a fair and square deal with me.”

From Washington Times Mar. 28, 2017

“Anyone, any law, is going to get a fair and square deal with me,” Gorsuch said.

From Washington Post Mar. 21, 2017

He waged war against the powerful business trusts in pursuit of a "square deal" for average Americans, but his party turned away.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 25, 2014

A square deal such as no other woman ever had!

From Rough-Hewn by Canfield, Dorothy

Square Deal for Callaghan and Prat is the favorite at 7-2.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 1, 2019

What they want to see, he said, is “like a combination of Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt, the Square Deal and the New Deal.”

From The New Yorker Jul. 16, 2018

“Mankind is hardwired to work,” as the Conservative MP Nick Boles puts it in a new book, Square Deal.

From The Guardian Jan. 19, 2018

His call, in his book Square Deal, echoes those being made by Labour ahead of 22 November's Budget.

From BBC Nov. 9, 2017

Mr. Emmett J. Scott, the second speaker of the evening, undertook to answer the question: "Did the Negro get a Square Deal?"

From The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919 by Various

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