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
Iron fist in a velvet glove: Smiling all the while, Nan manipulates the Roy children into overpaying $10 billion just so they can outbid their now-rivalrous father.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 14, 2023
Still, within the velvet glove remains an iron fist.
From New York Times • Jan. 13, 2022
The haleem, a silky stew of chicken, lentils and grains, is a punch of Pakistani spice delivered with a velvet glove.
From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2017
There might be steel beneath the velvet glove of this fair courtier.
From Prisoners of Chance The Story of What Befell Geoffrey Benteen, Borderman, through His Love for a Lady of France by Parrish, Randall
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.
