COMMON If someone uses a carrot and stick method to make you do something, they try to make you do it, partly by offering you rewards and partly by threatening you. But Congress also wants to use a carrot and stick approach to force both sides to negotiate an end to the war. With the announcement that the hostages are to be released, it appears that Washington's new carrot-and-stick policy may already have brought results. Note: Carrot and stick are used in many other structures with a similar meaning. Protests continued, however, so the authorities substituted the carrot for the stick. When the Security Council waves a stick at an offending country, the secretary-general can also offer a carrot as encouragement. Note: The idea behind this expression is that an animal such as a donkey can be encouraged to move forward either by dangling a carrot in front of it or by hitting it with a stick. The carrot represents the tempting offer and the stick represents the threat.