Meaning of big stick | Babel Free

Definitions

Significant power to punish or coerce.

attributive, often

Equivalents

Examples

“Wilson publicly rejected both the "big stick diplomacy" of Teddy Roosevelt and the "dollar diplomacy" of William Howard Taft; […]”

“Too much debate theory is based on power rather than reason. Kritiks are used as big sticks to avoid one of the duties closely associated with debating — research.”

“It is difficult to deny that the American political culture of the Big Stick ideology (speak softly, and carry a big stick) is just another form of neo-imperialism; colonial power was reestablished in the new millennium.”

CEFR level