Idiom Breakdown

first among equals

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Definition

A person or position that is formally of equal rank to others in a group, but nonetheless takes a leading role within that group.

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Calque of Latin primus inter pares.

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"The Orthodox consider the bishop of Rome to have always been merely a first among equals."
"I wonder whether Margaret Thatcher, Harold Macmillan, Winston Churchill, Lloyd George, Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone (going back in time) thought of themselves as mere firsts among equals."

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