play hardball
play hardball verb: to use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused.
Verb
play hardball (third-person singular simple present plays hardball, present participle playing hardball, simple past and past participle played hardball)
- To use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused.
- He was more than willing to extend the terms of the loan, but his boss decided to play hardball and demanded a balloon payment.
- To act rough and ruthless, especially in business or politics.
- So you wanna play hardball?
- 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.2021 October 6, Christian Wolmar, “Both sides must work together to get London back on track”, in RAIL, number 941, page 35
play hardball meaning in Tamil
play hardball in Tamil
- வியாபாரம் முதலியவற்றில் இலக்கை அடைய, நன்மை தீமை பற்றிக் கருதாமல், போட்டிபோட்டுக் கொண்டு செயல்படு, கடுமையாக செயல்படு, கடுமையாக நடந்து கொள்
Forms of play hardball
| third-person singular present | plays hardball |
|---|---|
| present participle | playing hardball |
| past participle | played hardball |
| past | played hardball |
Origin of play hardball
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).
Questions about play hardball
- What does play hardball mean?
- Play hardball means to use every means possible to achieve a goal, especially in disregarding the harm caused.
- What is play hardball in Tamil?
- Play hardball in Tamil is வியாபாரம் முதலியவற்றில் இலக்கை அடைய, நன்மை தீமை பற்றிக் கருதாமல், போட்டிபோட்டுக் கொண்டு செயல்படு. See Play hardball meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is play hardball?
- Play hardball is a verb.
- What is the past tense of play hardball?
- The past tense of play hardball is played hardball.
Words near play hardball in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: play hardball (page history and authors); play hardball (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-play hardball.ogg.
Cite this entry: “play hardball.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/play_hardball. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.