How to Use big stick in a Sentence

big stick

noun
  • Instead, Chisholm broke out the big stick.
    — Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Some talk loudly and carry a big stick.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 23 Nov. 2025
  • Tread lightly and carry a big stick.
    — Dan Arritt, Oc Register, 11 Apr. 2026
  • Sky News’s fate is one of the biggest sticking points in this takeover saga.
    — David Meyer, Fortune, 3 Apr. 2018
  • 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
  • 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
  • As an emerging great power, India must carry its own big stick.
    — CNN, 4 June 2020
  • Speak softly and carry a big stick, a famous soldier turned politician once said.
    — Gerard Baker, WSJ, 19 July 2021
  • Next best perhaps is speaking loudly while carrying a big stick.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 3 Oct. 2017
  • Walk softly and carry a very big stick or an aircraft carrier battle group.
    — Fox News, 9 May 2018
  • Holtby also made a big stick save on Alex Tuch late in the third period.
    — Kevin Allen, USA TODAY, 30 May 2018
  • The big stick would be this nuclear EMP attack that caps all of these.
    — Fox News, 23 Apr. 2018
  • Jackson is the picture of speaking softly and carrying a big stick.
    — Ted Dunnam, Houston Chronicle, 19 May 2018
  • Bloomberg news on the biggest sticking points between the House and Senate tax bills.
    — Anne Cronin, Bloomberg.com, 4 Dec. 2017
  • The hit product emerges, while the silhouette makes a big stick diplomacy statement.
    — Rachel Tashjian, Harper's BAZAAR, 23 Sep. 2022
  • Immigration remains one of the biggest sticking points in the talks.
    — Melissa Eddy, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2018
  • The biggest sticking point remains how to handle the Dreamers.
    — Kristina Peterson, WSJ, 7 June 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Speak softly and -- and despite what Teddy Roosevelt said -- don't whack anybody over the head with a big stick.
    — Paul Prather, Arkansas Online, 15 Nov. 2025
  • 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
  • Jawhar Jordan walked softly into the postgame press conference and carried a big stick – or in this case, a silver baseball bat.
    — Alexis Cubit, The Courier-Journal, 18 Dec. 2022
  • Denuclearization This is the biggest sticking point between the two sides.
    — Fortune, 31 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
  • If every walk around the neighborhood or hike through the woods has your dog carrying home a big stick, take heart, this doggie-favorite activity is quite common.
    — Jennifer Nelson, Southern Living, 16 June 2021
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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

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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