How to Use big stick in a Sentence

big stick

noun
Definition of big sticknext
  • Sky News’s fate is one of the biggest sticking points in this takeover saga.
    — David Meyer, Fortune, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Holding him back: Portrush is the unknown for so many and at over 7,300 yards will call on the big stick.
    — Geoff Shackelford, azcentral, 16 July 2019
  • Glove decently and carry a big stick, and there should be a spot for you in the lineup.
    — Michael Beller, SI.com, 13 June 2019
  • Pressure to beat the Nazis to the ultimate punch; pressure to have the biggest stick on the playground.
    — Paul Ross, Popular Mechanics, 27 July 2018
  • The big stick would be this nuclear EMP attack that caps all of these.
    — Fox News, 23 Apr. 2018
  • Bloomberg news on the biggest sticking points between the House and Senate tax bills.
    — Anne Cronin, Bloomberg.com, 4 Dec. 2017
  • Their respect is earned not by wielding the big stick, but instead by wielding the big brain.
    — Jamie Samuelsen, Detroit Free Press, 10 May 2018
  • But this time, Jay took out the big stick and belted a 413-foot home run over the right-center field wall off starter Daniel Gossett.
    — Blair Kerkhoff, kansascity, 3 June 2018
  • Holtby also made a big stick save on Alex Tuch late in the third period.
    — Kevin Allen, USA TODAY, 30 May 2018
  • Gone are the days of the big stick – using the latest, fastest, and biggest processor to do everything.
    — Jim McGregor, Forbes, 24 June 2022
  • So, that’s at least three pennant races for which any team could have Soto swinging a big stick in the middle of their lineup.
    — Matt Young, Chron, 18 July 2022
  • The biggest sticking point remains how to handle the Dreamers.
    — Kristina Peterson, WSJ, 7 June 2018
  • Immigration remains one of the biggest sticking points in the talks.
    — Melissa Eddy, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2018
  • Speak softly and carry a big stick, a famous soldier turned politician once said.
    — Gerard Baker, WSJ, 19 July 2021
  • Jackson is the picture of speaking softly and carrying a big stick.
    — Ted Dunnam, Houston Chronicle, 19 May 2018
  • As an emerging great power, India must carry its own big stick.
    — CNN, 4 June 2020
  • Threats of using a big stick have failed to alter Russian behavior, so the U.S. has nothing to lose in dangling a carrot.
    — David Ramseur, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Mar. 2018
  • Those that don’t like the sound of Yellen’s proposals may think about accelerating their plans for whittling down that big stick.
    — Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 10 Apr. 2021
  • Dangled over the counties’ heads is a big stick: the possibility of the state placing greater restrictions on them.
    — From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 19 Nov. 2020
  • Smith speaks softly but carries a big stick and a bigger punch, one of the few on the team who will take an opponent to task for taking liberties with the Wings' best players.
    — Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, 14 Sep. 2021
  • Imagine a rally of Trump supporters and 15 anti-Trump protesters came with big sticks and mace?
    — Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2019
  • Walk softly and carry a very big stick or an aircraft carrier battle group.
    — Fox News, 9 May 2018
  • Next best perhaps is speaking loudly while carrying a big stick.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 3 Oct. 2017
  • One of the biggest sticking points relates to the portion of a car that must be made in North America to qualify for Nafta’s zero tariffs.
    — New York Times, 10 May 2018
  • There are several large culinary demonstrations that are drenched in science, but hopefully not with a big stick to hit the audience over the head.
    — A.d. Amorosi, Philly.com, 31 Oct. 2017
  • One of the biggest sticking points here is Chrome; Google's browser is the most widely used third-party application on Windows.
    — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, 21 Nov. 2018
  • Biden has been given the opportunity, in the words of the African proverb cited by Theodore Roosevelt in a different context, to speak softly and carry a big stick.
    — Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 2 Mar. 2021
  • Denuclearization This is the biggest sticking point between the two sides.
    — Fortune, 31 May 2018
  • Mogilny, who was terrifying as a 76-goal Sabre, put up 55 one year with the Canucks, and carried a big stick for the turn-of-the-century Devils, has both the stats and cultural impact to warrant inclusion.
    — Matt Porter, BostonGlobe.com, 29 June 2019
  • The Bannonites are becoming the big stick of Trumpism, and the Republican establishment elites haven't found effective tools to counter the purge.
    — Jonathan Allen, NBC News, 25 Oct. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'big stick.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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