PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, IF Definition & Meaning

push comes to shove, if

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, when push comes to shove . When matters must be confronted, when a crucial point is reached, as in If push comes to shove, the Federal Reserve Board will lower the interest rate , or They supposedly support equality, but when push comes to shove they always seem to promote a man instead of a woman . This term comes from rugby, where, after an infraction of rules, forwards from each team face off and push against one another until one player can kick the ball to a teammate and resume the game. Its figurative use dates from the 1950s. Also see the synonym if worst comes to worst .

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He often can’t shake the feeling of being constantly on call, his livelihood perpetually on the line, a burning question in the back of his mind: “When push comes to shove, if I ever got trudged through a court case, how many people will truly have my back?”

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“When push comes to shove, if there is no consensus to be built, she’s not shy to make a tough decision,” Lash said.

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“If push comes to shove, if it doesn’t get changed, I’ll vote for the $1.9” trillion, he said.

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"I'm selling so many more mandarins than navels it's unbelievable. A navel is a great piece of fruit, but if push comes to shove, if I have to take out something, it would probably be navels."

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"But when push comes to shove, if they get squeezed … they will have no other choice than to look at the expense side of the business."

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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