Play hardball meaning in English
Learn how to use Play hardball correctly with Gymglish.
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Definition
to play hardball (to convince someone): to take a tough line, to be strong, to be aggressive (to convince someone)
Examples
- "(To Bruno) I think this Chinaman is playing hardball."
Exercise 1
Choose the best definition for the following idioms.
Mr. Wang: "My team of lawyers is working in shifts."
Mr. Wang's lawyers are .
Harold: "I think this Chinaman is playing hardball."
Harold thinks that Mr. Wang is .
Bruno: 'Mr. Wang. I'm going to call your bluff. I know that you love jokes, especially jokes that involve high stakes.
Bruno , and knows that Mr. Wang likes jokes that involve .
Mr. Wang: "My team of lawyers is working in shifts."
Mr. Wang's lawyers are .
Harold: "I think this Chinaman is playing hardball."
Harold thinks that Mr. Wang is .
Bruno: 'Mr. Wang. I'm going to call your bluff. I know that you love jokes, especially jokes that involve high stakes.
Bruno , and knows that Mr. Wang likes jokes that involve .
Choose the best definition for the following idioms.
Mr. Wang: "My team of lawyers is working in shifts."
Mr. Wang's lawyers are working around the clock 1.
Harold: "I think this Chinaman is playing hardball."
Harold thinks that Mr. Wang is taking an uncompromising negotiating position 2.
Bruno: 'Mr. Wang. I'm going to call your bluff. I know that you love jokes, especially jokes that involve high stakes.
Bruno wants Mr. Wang to prove that he is not lying 3, and knows that Mr. Wang likes jokes that involve important and risky issues 4.
Mr. Wang: "My team of lawyers is working in shifts."
Mr. Wang's lawyers are working around the clock 1.
Harold: "I think this Chinaman is playing hardball."
Harold thinks that Mr. Wang is taking an uncompromising negotiating position 2.
Bruno: 'Mr. Wang. I'm going to call your bluff. I know that you love jokes, especially jokes that involve high stakes.
Bruno wants Mr. Wang to prove that he is not lying 3, and knows that Mr. Wang likes jokes that involve important and risky issues 4.
1 working around the clock: This is correct. To "work in shifts" is synonymous with to "work round the clock". Mr. Wang says that "my team of lawyers is working in shifts, planning a hostile takeover of your companies." This means that he has a team of lawyers who are working constantly (24 hours a day) on his plans to take over Bruno and Harold's companies. A "shift" is a working period of an employee, for example: At the hospital, I often have to work the night shift.
1 on high salaries: This is incorrect. The expression "to work in shifts" is not synonymous with earning a lot of money, or having a high salary.
1 working for an incentive fee: This is incorrect. The expression "to work in shifts" is not synonymous with "working for an incentive fee", or a performance-related bonus.
1 working round the world: This is incorrect. The expression "to work in shifts" is not synonymous with "working round the world".
2 taking an uncompromising negotiating position: This is correct. In negotiation, the expression "(the company) is playing hardball" means that the company is taking an inflexible and uncompromising negotiation position. Example: They played hardball with the bank and refused to make any payments. The term "hardball" is another term for "baseball" (the opposite of the game "softball").
2 making empty threats: This is incorrect. The expression "to play hardball" is not synonymous with "making empty threats." An "empty threat" is a warning that carries no weight, or a source of danger that, in fact, is not dangerous at all, for example: His threats were empty; he said he would kill me, but he didn't even have a gun!
2 insulting Harold and Bruno: This is incorrect. The expression "to play hardball" is not synonymous with "to insult".
2 playing games: This is incorrect. Harold doesn't mean that Mr. Wang is playing games.
3 wants Mr. Wang to prove that he is not lying: This is correct. "(I'm going to) call your bluff" is a poker expression that means "I'd like to see your cards because I think you are lying." Bruno uses the expression because he doesn't believe Wang, and thinks that Wang's plans to take over Delavigne Corp are not real.
3 is going to phone Mr. Wang's lawyer: This is incorrect. "To call one's bluff" is not synonymous with calling one's lawyer.
3 doesn't think Mr. Wang is funny: This is incorrect. Bruno's use of the expression "call one's bluff" does not mean that he doesn't think that Mr. Wang is funny.
3 wants Mr. Wang to end the meeting: This is incorrect. "To call one's bluff" is not a request to ask someone to end a meeting.
4 important and risky issues: This is correct. "Stakes" are literally the amount of money that is risked in a gambling game. If the "stakes" are high then the amount of "risk" is high as well (because there is a lot to lose). Therefore, doing something that involves "high stakes" means that it involves a lot of risks or that there is a great deal to lose.
4 a lot of sarcasm: This is incorrect. Doing something that involves "high stakes" does not mean that it involves "a lot of sarcasm". "Sarcasm" is a form of humor that involves irony: apparent praise is often intend to cause cruelty, for example by saying "You got here on time!" when the person is 20 minutes late.
4 a lot of cruelty: This is incorrect. Doing something that involves "high stakes" does not mean that it involves "a lot of cruelty".
4 rude sexism: This is incorrect. A joke that involves "high stakes" does not describe a rude or sexist joke.
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