hard line
24
5.1
- noun
:
línea dura
- The government has adopted a hard line on drug trafficking, refusing to negotiate with traffickers.
- take a hard line
I have no doubt that many of you in narcissistic relationships might have made a final straw your hard line in the sand.
- I have no doubt that many of you in narcissistic relationships might have made a final straw your hard line in the sand.
- I, you know, I know that I don't take a hard line about anything not being true.
- And again, it, it's, it's this hard line of you don't want them to be spoiled and entitled, right?
Examples
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In principle, there is nothing wrong with taking a hard line in bargaining.
Academic text (1996) -
On foreign policy, I am not convinced that his hard line will help him.
Blog text (30) -
Your hard line approach is gonna blow up in our faces.
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Given the hard line position of the new State President... the future of those talks must now hang in the balance.
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The union takes a hard line on firing.
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While Risky was doing the soft sell, Tonya was taking a hard line.
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She was given the appointment in spite of her hard line philosophy.
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Lindsay Graham seems to be taking a hard line on this, along with John McCain.
Blog text (1) -
It is therefore the responsibility of those in positions of power to question any hard line policy that threatens survival as we know it.
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But he understood that Israelis wanted a leader who adopted a hard line on security and a pragmatic line on territory.
Academic text (2012)
Synonyms
1
4.4
A strong, clear opinion that does not change
1
5.8
A practical, strict way to handle problems to get results
How Uncompromising
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and predictably built from 'hard' (firm, uncompromising) + 'line' (a position, policy or stance); together they transparently convey a strict or inflexible approach. This compositional reading is common cross-linguistically and follows regular adjective + noun semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Hard line comes from a simple picture: a strong, straight line that is hard and will not bend or move. One popular image says that standing on that firm border means you will not change, so hard line means 'a firm, not willing to change position'.