play hardball

play hard·ball

P p

Definitions of play hardball words

noun play hardball baseball, as distinguished from softball. 1
adjective play hardball tough or ruthless: He wasn't ready for the hardball politics of Washington. 1
adjective play hardball outspoken, challenging, or difficult: Reporters asked the president some hardball questions. 1
idioms play hardball play hardball, to act or work aggressively, competitively, or ruthlessly, as in business or politics. 1
phrase play hardball If someone plays hardball, they will do anything that is necessary to achieve or get what they want, even if this involves being harsh or unfair. 0
noun play hardball to act in a ruthless or uncompromising way 0

before 1825

One of the 37% newest English words

First recorded in 1825-35; hard + ball1

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 71% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

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