swing for the fences

English

Alternative forms

• swing for the fence

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

swing for the fences (third-person singular simple present swings for the fences, present participle swinging for the fences, simple past and past participle swung for the fences)

1. (US, baseball, softball) To swing at the ball as hard as possible, with the aim of getting a home run.

   Don't swing for the fences unless it's an easy ball; be content with running part way.

2. (US, idiomatic) To do something extremely ambitious, especially rashly.

   I'm not going to swing for the fences tomorrow, but I'm hoping my speech will be warmly received.

   • 2022 September 27, Mark Landler, quoting Kenneth S. Rogoff, “Truss Takes a Bold Economic Gamble. Will It Sink Her Government?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “This is a very inexperienced government swinging for the fences in a situation where Labour is the strong favorite in the next election, if they don’t swing too far left,” said Kenneth S. Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard.

See also

• hit one out of the ballpark
• run for the roses
• shoot the moon