velvet glove

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A Republican colleague, Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., once told the Herald that Ms. Meek had “a velvet glove, but sometimes she can have a fist in it. She’s so likable that it’s sometimes disarming.”

From Washington Post

“She was like an iron fist in a velvet glove,” Mr. King, now in private practice, said in an interview.

From New York Times

Bratton claims he was “furious” at the disrespect, but he informed his officers that “I issue no mandates and I make no threats of discipline” because he thought the right touch was “a velvet glove, not a hammer.”

From Washington Post

“The spectre of state intervention into controlling the private sector has created a crescendo of panic selling,” said Sean Darby at Jefferies, calling it an iron fist in a velvet glove.

From Reuters

“A fist in your face, but in a velvet glove,” as Cabu used to say of the cartoonist’s work.

From New York Times