hardball
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A no-nonsense attitude in business or politics.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hahrdbawlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɑɹdbɔl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A no-nonsense attitude in business or politics
figurative
Tough or ruthless behavior, especially in combat, politics or business.
adjective
Being or exhibiting tough or ruthless behavior, especially in combat, politics or business.
verb
informaltransitive
To exhibit tough and ruthless behavior towards another individual.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A no-nonsense attitude in business or politics
Used this way, hardball is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in business or professional and government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Business/professional
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use hardball
- “They play hardball in the Senate.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.