the corridors of power

corridors of power

The places or positions occupied by those with authority, especially in the upper levels of government. I want to be in the corridors of power someday—I'm sick of having to take orders from other people. Ordinary people don't make the laws, though—that's reserved for the people in the corridors of power. Well, if you make it all the way to the corridors of power, you too can boss people around one day.

See also: corridor, of, power

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

corridors of power

The offices of powerful leaders. For example, As clerk to a Supreme Court justice, Jim thought he'd get his foot inside the corridors of power . This term was first used by C.P. Snow in his novel Homecomings (1956) for the ministries of Britain's Whitehall, with their top-ranking civil servants. Later it was broadened to any high officials.

See also: corridor, of, power

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

the corridors of power

the senior levels of government or administration, where covert influence is regarded as being exerted and significant decisions are made.

This expression comes from the title of C. P. Snow 's novel The Corridors of Power ( 1964 ). Although most usual with power , the phrase can be more specifically applied to the most influential levels of the hierarchy within a particular place or organization, especially when they are regarded as operating covertly. The French word coulisse (meaning ‘the wings in a theatre’ and ‘corridor’) has a similar figurative sense of the corridor as a place of negotiation and behind-the-scenes scheming.

See also: corridor, of, power

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

the corridors of ˈpower

the places where important decisions in government are madeThis expression comes from the title of a book by C.P. Snow, published in 1964.

See also: corridor, of, power

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

corridors of power

The places or positions from which people in authority wield power.

See also: corridor, of, power

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

corridors of power

The highest echelons of government bureaucracy. This term was coined in the 1956 novel Homecomings by C. P. Snow, who later used it as the title of another novel, Corridors of Power (1964). By that time Snow realized it had become a cliché, but said, “If a man hasn’t the right to his own cliché, who has?” (quoted by William Safire, New York Times, May 14, 2000). However, it is heard less often today.

See also: corridor, of, power

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer