velvet glove
Americannoun
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.
“We’ve got to a point where we can no longer be able to afford the velvet glove diplomacy.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 16, 2023
A Republican colleague, Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., once told the Herald that Ms. Meek had “a velvet glove, but sometimes she can have a fist in it. She’s so likable that it’s sometimes disarming.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 29, 2021
After leading with McBride’s iron fist, a union insider said, the group intends to follow up with the velvet glove of more moderate board members.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2020
As overlord, you can rule your gang with either velvet glove or iron fist.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 11, 2019
Although there was an apparent kindliness in his manner, one could not help feeling that it was only the velvet glove masking the iron hand concealed below.
From The Kidnapped President by Boothby, Guy Newell
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.
