Idiom Breakdown

pull strings

menu_book

Definition

To manipulate a situation, especially by asking favours of others; to use one's influence with others to attain a desired goal.

To control a person, organization, or situation by operating behind the scenes, as a puppeteer controls a marionette.

history_edu

Suggesting a puppet show, where characters are moved by pulling attached strings.

chat_bubble_outline

"He has the job not because of talent, but because his dad pulled strings with the boss."
"We know who pulls the strings around here."
"Master of Puppets, I'm pulling your strings"
"Mr. Brown is touchy about accusations that he is a packaged candidate, and bristles at the suggestion that Mr. Caddell pulls his strings."
""It may have begun that way," says a senior Pentagon official, "but as these attacks grow more numerous, you get the sense that there's someone pulling the strings at a higher level.""
"But with the lively Dos Santos pulling the strings behind strikers Pavlyuchenko and Defoe, Spurs controlled the first half without finding the breakthrough their dominance deserved."
""The DfT is pulling all the strings. It is making every decision. It is telling companies what they can and cannot spend, right down to very small amounts of money. That's the reason they will declare the train operators to be under public control.""

account_tree