hard line

Related to hard line: take a hard line

hard line

1. noun A strict and inflexible view of or position on something. The senator said she would take a hard line against introducing new taxes on the middle class.
2. adjective Very strict or inflexible. In this usage, the phrase can be hyphenated or written as one word. I wouldn't skip out on the production meeting if I were you—I hear the boss has a hard-line policy on attendance.
See also: hard, line
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

hard line

A firm, uncompromising policy or position. For example, The President was taking a hard line on the budget. [c. 1960]
See also: hard, line
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • doo
  • high
  • high, wide, and handsome
  • wear (one's) apron high
  • bummer
  • angle
  • angling
  • mickey mouse
  • rear end
  • garbage
References in periodicals archive
Singapore City [Singapore], June 3 ( ANI ): United States Defense Secretary James Mattis on Sunday, taking a hard line on North Korea, said the reclusive country will get relief from international sanctions only when it has demonstrated "verifiable and irreversible" steps to denuclearisation.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has taken a hard line on the regulation of the Bitcoin.
Signs of a hard line in Beijing were also apparent in the controversy over China's new e- passports, which depicted large chunks of Indian territory as parts of China.
If your boss insists on pursuing the hard line you might want to think about changing firms.
Hard line: life and death on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The commission urges Congress to fill this "policy vacuum" with a clearer and more hard line approach to U.S.-China relations.
While most of the contributors are evangelical or conservative, they do not pursue a hard line, and I detected four Lutherans among the contributors: Fretheim (Exodus) and Olson (Numbers) from the ELCA and Heck (Benjamin, Issachar, and Tamar) and Steinmann (cherubim, hardness of heart) from LCMS.
Make sure you blend well so there's no hard line, then add a pale gold shadow and lots of black mascara.
Hard line Christians may be offended at the way they and their iconic evangelists are portrayed.
THE FALL OF communism has been attributed to many factors, from the system's economic failings to the hard line taken by Ronald Reagan.
"Bush officials have taken such a hard line, sources say, that they're refusing to permit the release of matters already in the public domain - including the existence of intelligence documents referred to on the CIA Web site."
Behind Ferreras' hard line, Aerolineas did not pay 7,000 employees their April and May wages.
Sharon, a 72-year-old former general and defense minister, has taken a hard line in the past against Palestinian hopes for a separate state.
The government is taking a very hard line, especially on expenses involved in maintaining a plan's qualification (e.g., the cost of required amendments or a determination letter), which the government claims should be split between the plan and the employer.
The exchanges were heated in this final hearing and Microsoft continued to maintain a hard line of conceding nothing.