big stick

English

Noun

big stick (plural big sticks)

1. (often attributive) Significant power to punish or coerce.
   • 1997, Randall Hansis, The Latin Americans: Understanding Their Legacy, page 188:

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

   • 2002, Kenneth T. Broda-Bahm, Perspectives in Controversy, page 300:

     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.

   • 2015, Falk Huettmann, Central American Biodiversity, page 34:

     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.

Related terms

• carrot and stick
• stick and carrot
• speak softly and carry a big stick
• talk softly and carry a big stick
• walk softly and carry a big stick