trump card
Use trump card in a sentence
noun
1.
2.
Informal. something that gives one person or group the advantage over another: The surprise witness was his trump card.
Origin:
1815–25
1815–25
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To trump card
American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
trump card definition
In general, something capable of making a decisive difference when used at the right moment; in certain card games, trump is the suit designated as having precedence over the others: “The prosecutor was about to win the case, when the defense lawyer produced her trump card: an eyewitness who testified that the accused was nowhere near the scene of the crime.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
00:10
trump card
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
trump card
A key resource to gain an advantage at the opportune moment, as in That surprise witness was the defense's trump card, or She played her trump card, announcing that the Senator would speak. This expression transfers the trump card of games such as bridge, which can win over a card of another suit, to other kinds of advantage. [Early 1800s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
They hold the trump card around here, not the railroads, not the shippers.
Natural amenities, though, will be the trump card for some rural areas.
And is too often used as a kind of trump card when it's nothing of the sort.
With this provision, a claim of battery becomes a trump card to deportation for almost any illegal alien.
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