"speak softly and carry a big stick" meaning in English

See speak softly and carry a big stick in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Etymology: Often attributed to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) as an expression of his view of foreign policy, possibly of earlier origin according to his account, but with a probability of he himself having coined it. Head templates: {{head|en|proverb}} speak softly and carry a big stick
  1. Do not boast or utter verbal threats, but do make others aware that you are prepared to use physical force if necessary. Synonyms: talk softly and carry a big stick, walk softly and carry a big stick Related terms: you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone Translations (do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force): ὃν οὐ τύπτει λόγος, τύπτει ῥάβδος (hòn ou túptei lógos, túptei rhábdos) (Ancient Greek), 溫言在口,大棒在手 (Chinese Mandarin), 温言在口 (Chinese Mandarin), 大棒在手 (wēnyán zài kǒu, dàbàng zài shǒu) (Chinese Mandarin), όπου δεν τύπτει λόγος τύπτει ράβδος (ópou den týptei lógos týptei rávdos) (Greek), post verba verbera (Latin)

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for speak softly and carry a big stick meaning in English (3.7kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "Often attributed to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) as an expression of his view of foreign policy, possibly of earlier origin according to his account, but with a probability of he himself having coined it.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "speak softly and carry a big stick",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1903 April 3, Theodore Roosevelt, President Roosevelt's Speech on the Monroe Doctrine,\" Arizona Journal-Miner, p. 4 (retrieved 19 Dec 2011)",
          "text": "There is a homely old adage which runs: \"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.\""
        },
        {
          "ref": "1917, Thorstein Veblen, The Nature of Peace, Introductory",
          "text": "Under any governmental auspices, as the modern world knows governments, the keeping of the peace comes at its best under the precept, \"Speak softly and carry a big stick.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "Jan 17 1999, Tom Kuntz, “Word for Word/Representative James A. Traficant Jr.”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-12-19",
          "text": "When it comes to China, we have gone from \"Speak softly and carry a big stick\" to \"Take the fifth and carry a toothpick\". (from a Congressional speech by Rep. James Traficant, June 22, 1998)",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Do not boast or utter verbal threats, but do make others aware that you are prepared to use physical force if necessary."
      ],
      "id": "en-speak_softly_and_carry_a_big_stick-en-proverb-w4jnmdLY",
      "links": [
        [
          "boast",
          "boast"
        ],
        [
          "verbal",
          "verbal"
        ],
        [
          "threat",
          "threat"
        ],
        [
          "physical",
          "physical"
        ],
        [
          "force",
          "force"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "talk softly and carry a big stick"
        },
        {
          "word": "walk softly and carry a big stick"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
          "word": "溫言在口,大棒在手"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
          "word": "温言在口"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "wēnyán zài kǒu, dàbàng zài shǒu",
          "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
          "word": "大棒在手"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "ópou den týptei lógos týptei rávdos",
          "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
          "word": "όπου δεν τύπτει λόγος τύπτει ράβδος"
        },
        {
          "code": "grc",
          "lang": "Ancient Greek",
          "roman": "hòn ou túptei lógos, túptei rhábdos",
          "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
          "word": "ὃν οὐ τύπτει λόγος, τύπτει ῥάβδος"
        },
        {
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
          "word": "post verba verbera"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "speak softly and carry a big stick"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "Often attributed to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) as an expression of his view of foreign policy, possibly of earlier origin according to his account, but with a probability of he himself having coined it.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "speak softly and carry a big stick",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1903 April 3, Theodore Roosevelt, President Roosevelt's Speech on the Monroe Doctrine,\" Arizona Journal-Miner, p. 4 (retrieved 19 Dec 2011)",
          "text": "There is a homely old adage which runs: \"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.\""
        },
        {
          "ref": "1917, Thorstein Veblen, The Nature of Peace, Introductory",
          "text": "Under any governmental auspices, as the modern world knows governments, the keeping of the peace comes at its best under the precept, \"Speak softly and carry a big stick.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "Jan 17 1999, Tom Kuntz, “Word for Word/Representative James A. Traficant Jr.”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-12-19",
          "text": "When it comes to China, we have gone from \"Speak softly and carry a big stick\" to \"Take the fifth and carry a toothpick\". (from a Congressional speech by Rep. James Traficant, June 22, 1998)",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Do not boast or utter verbal threats, but do make others aware that you are prepared to use physical force if necessary."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "boast",
          "boast"
        ],
        [
          "verbal",
          "verbal"
        ],
        [
          "threat",
          "threat"
        ],
        [
          "physical",
          "physical"
        ],
        [
          "force",
          "force"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "talk softly and carry a big stick"
    },
    {
      "word": "walk softly and carry a big stick"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
      "word": "溫言在口,大棒在手"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
      "word": "温言在口"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "wēnyán zài kǒu, dàbàng zài shǒu",
      "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
      "word": "大棒在手"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "ópou den týptei lógos týptei rávdos",
      "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
      "word": "όπου δεν τύπτει λόγος τύπτει ράβδος"
    },
    {
      "code": "grc",
      "lang": "Ancient Greek",
      "roman": "hòn ou túptei lógos, túptei rhábdos",
      "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
      "word": "ὃν οὐ τύπτει λόγος, τύπτει ῥάβδος"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "sense": "do not boast but do make others aware that you are prepared to use force",
      "word": "post verba verbera"
    }
  ],
  "word": "speak softly and carry a big stick"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). 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.