"play hardball" meaning in English

See play hardball in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-play hardball.ogg [Australia] Forms: plays hardball [present, singular, third-person], playing hardball [participle, present], played hardball [participle, past], played hardball [past]
Etymology: From the American sport of baseball; the hardball is the heavier and harder type of the two types of throwing ball used when playing that sport (i.e. softball). Etymology templates: {{m|en|softball}} softball Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} play hardball (third-person singular simple present plays hardball, present participle playing hardball, simple past and past participle played hardball)
  1. (idiomatic, informal) To use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused. Tags: idiomatic, informal
    Sense id: en-play_hardball-en-verb-Q~R4rYRn Categories (other): English predicates Disambiguation of English predicates: 51 49
  2. (idiomatic, informal) To act rough and ruthless, especially in business or politics. Tags: idiomatic, informal Categories (topical): Business, Politics Translations (Translations): iść po trupach [imperfective] (Polish), pójść po trupach [perfective] (Polish), sätta hårt mot hårt (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-play_hardball-en-verb-jjNgTIGh Disambiguation of Business: 27 73 Disambiguation of Politics: 0 100 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English predicates, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 40 60 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 40 60 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 41 59 Disambiguation of English predicates: 51 49 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 31 69 Disambiguation of 'Translations': 42 58

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for play hardball meaning in English (4.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "softball"
      },
      "expansion": "softball",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the American sport of baseball; the hardball is the heavier and harder type of the two types of throwing ball used when playing that sport (i.e. softball).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays hardball",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing hardball",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played hardball",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played hardball",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play hardball (third-person singular simple present plays hardball, present participle playing hardball, simple past and past participle played hardball)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He was more than willing to extend the terms of the loan, but his boss decided to play hardball and demanded a balloon payment.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_hardball-en-verb-Q~R4rYRn",
      "links": [
        [
          "use",
          "use"
        ],
        [
          "achieve",
          "achieve"
        ],
        [
          "goal",
          "goal"
        ],
        [
          "especially",
          "especially"
        ],
        [
          "disregarding",
          "disregarding"
        ],
        [
          "harm",
          "harm"
        ],
        [
          "cause",
          "cause"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "40 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "40 60",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 73",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Business",
          "orig": "en:Business",
          "parents": [
            "Economics",
            "Society",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 100",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Politics",
          "orig": "en:Politics",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "So you wanna play hardball?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 October 6, Christian Wolmar, “Both sides must work together to get London back on track”, in RAIL, number 941, page 35",
          "text": "But if ministers keep on playing hardball with TfL because of narrow party interests, London will lose out. Forcing a 4.8% rise on London fares will only encourage congestion at a time when the roads are already full and public transport is underused.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act rough and ruthless, especially in business or politics."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_hardball-en-verb-jjNgTIGh",
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "rough",
          "rough"
        ],
        [
          "ruthless",
          "ruthless"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To act rough and ruthless, especially in business or politics."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "42 58",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "iść po trupach"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "42 58",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "pójść po trupach"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "42 58",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "sätta hårt mot hårt"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play hardball.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/En-au-play_hardball.ogg/En-au-play_hardball.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/En-au-play_hardball.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play hardball"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English predicates",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss",
    "en:Business",
    "en:Politics"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "softball"
      },
      "expansion": "softball",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the American sport of baseball; the hardball is the heavier and harder type of the two types of throwing ball used when playing that sport (i.e. softball).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays hardball",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing hardball",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played hardball",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played hardball",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play hardball (third-person singular simple present plays hardball, present participle playing hardball, simple past and past participle played hardball)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He was more than willing to extend the terms of the loan, but his boss decided to play hardball and demanded a balloon payment.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "use",
          "use"
        ],
        [
          "achieve",
          "achieve"
        ],
        [
          "goal",
          "goal"
        ],
        [
          "especially",
          "especially"
        ],
        [
          "disregarding",
          "disregarding"
        ],
        [
          "harm",
          "harm"
        ],
        [
          "cause",
          "cause"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "So you wanna play hardball?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 October 6, Christian Wolmar, “Both sides must work together to get London back on track”, in RAIL, number 941, page 35",
          "text": "But if ministers keep on playing hardball with TfL because of narrow party interests, London will lose out. Forcing a 4.8% rise on London fares will only encourage congestion at a time when the roads are already full and public transport is underused.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act rough and ruthless, especially in business or politics."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "rough",
          "rough"
        ],
        [
          "ruthless",
          "ruthless"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To act rough and ruthless, especially in business or politics."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play hardball.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/En-au-play_hardball.ogg/En-au-play_hardball.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/En-au-play_hardball.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "iść po trupach"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "pójść po trupach"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "sätta hårt mot hårt"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play hardball"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (1d5a7d1 and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.