sharp practice

noun — 2 senses

sharp practice

noun
1

Commercial activity that is possibly dishonest while not actually being illegal.

  • The typical political sharp practice of manipulating history to suit the current agenda.
  • This action was later regarded by some as a piece of rather sharp practice, but Bidder claimed that the landowners concerned […] refused to sell the ground for the railway unless the whole of their property was purchased at a suitable profit to themselves.1946 May and June, J. G. Holmes, “The North Woolwich Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 174:
1 more example
  • 2007 August 29, letters to the editor, “More reports from the check-in desk”, in The Guardian, If this is not actually illegal, it certainly appears to be a sharp practice.
2

Law A lawyer's unfairly taking advantage of an opposing party's missteps or inexperience to gain an advantage.

Synonyms
bad faith

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.