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have it both ways
Idioms and Phrases
Achieve two mutually exclusive objectives, as in Bill wants to have it both ways—to enjoy Christmas at home and to travel with his friends . The related have it all means “to get everything one wants,†as in It's too bad we can't have it all—the wisdom of experience and the fresh enthusiasm of youth . [Early 1900s]Example Sentences
“You can’t have it both ways,†Levin said.
Far-right Christians in politics certainly want to have it both ways.
But European elites too often try to have it both ways with Russia; they are hopelessly addicted to Russian energy, and Germany above all was the leading proponent of the Vladimir Putin-empowering Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.
I guess she thinks she can have it both ways.
Hwang writes other critiques into these seven episodes, some of which try to have it both ways.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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