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hard power

British  

noun

  1. 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

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Chinese officials and analysts have been candid in their assessments of U.S. hard power, impressed by a military they acknowledge remains the best in the world.

From Los Angeles Times May 12, 2026

Stubbs and O’Malley recommend investors ”stay aligned with hard power industries to benefit from fiscal support and to hedge AI disruption.”

From MarketWatch Apr. 22, 2026

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

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

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