get tough on

idiomatic phrase

: to deal harshly with
Greece promised last week to get tough on tax evasion …Alan Clendenning
Environmental groups and health agencies such as the American Lung Association have pushed lawmakers to get tough on polluters and enact stricter smog limits …Melissa Knopper
"… For a long time in the United States, the politics around law and order have been, get tough on crime. … "Paul Butler

Examples of get tough on in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Angry voters are responding by electing pragmatic prosecutors — attorneys who vow to get tough on crime and restore law and order. Barnini Chakraborty, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 7 Feb. 2025 During the first administration, however, there was also a clear strategy to get tough on China, led by Robert Lighthizer. Kelly Evans, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2025 Best of The Bee: California’s Prop. 36 promised to get tough on crime. Lia Russell, Sacramento Bee, 7 Feb. 2025 When Donald Trump took the oath of office as President in January 2017, his first foreign policy priority was to get tough on China. Ian Bremmer, TIME, 16 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for get tough on 

Word History

First Known Use

1945, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of get tough on was in 1945

Dictionary Entries Near get tough on

Cite this Entry

“Get tough on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/get%20tough%20on. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.

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