as in strict
not allowing for any exceptions or loosening of standards
a hard-line approach to the sentencing of repeat offenders
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Recent Examples of hard-line
In the first Trump administration, Democrats offered a foil to Trump’s hard-line immigration measures, including separating children from their parents, forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico, and deporting immigrants back to countries that were not their own.
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Julia Ainsley, NBC News, 8 Jan. 2025
Though the city has a sanctuary law that limits cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, President-elect Trump has promised to withhold federal funding to jurisdictions that resist his hard-line immigration policies.
—Russell Contreras, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025
In 2023, despite having campaigned on a hard-line approach to immigration, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced adjustments to the country’s immigration policies to allow in more foreign workers to address labor shortages.
—Amy Pope, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
Two of the court’s most hard-line conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, have previously written that the Obergefell decision should be reconsidered.
—Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for hard-line 
Julia Ainsley, NBC News, 8 Jan. 2025
Though the city has a sanctuary law that limits cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, President-elect Trump has promised to withhold federal funding to jurisdictions that resist his hard-line immigration policies.
—Russell Contreras, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025
In 2023, despite having campaigned on a hard-line approach to immigration, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced adjustments to the country’s immigration policies to allow in more foreign workers to address labor shortages.
—Amy Pope, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
Two of the court’s most hard-line conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, have previously written that the Obergefell decision should be reconsidered.
—Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for hard-line
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Cite this Entry
“Hard-line.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-line. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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