hardball

'hɑ:dbɔ:l

n. a no-nonsense attitude in business or politics
n. baseball as distinguished from softball

n. 硬式棒球（等于baseball）；（为达到某种目的而采取的）强硬手段；[俚]刀剑搏杀

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使用频率

hardball 由 hard（硬的）和 ball（球）组成，字面意思是“硬球”。可以联想到在竞争中采取强硬的态度。

例句

1. The politician decided to play hardball during the negotiations.

这位政治家在谈判中决定采取强硬的态度。

2. It's time to stop being nice and play hardball if we want to win this deal.

如果我们想赢得这笔交易，就该停止客气，采取强硬的方式。

3. In business, sometimes you have to play hardball to protect your interests.

在商业中，有时你必须采取强硬的态度来保护自己的利益。