pull strings
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.97 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To manipulate a situation, especially by asking favours of others; to use one's influence with others to attain a desired goal.
Intransitive verb
verb
To control a person, organization, or situation by operating behind the scenes, as a puppeteer controls a marionette.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "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."
Etymology
Usage
Inflected Forms
pulls strings (present, singular)
pulling strings (participle, present)
pulled strings (participle, past)
pulled strings (past)
pull a few strings (alternative)
pull some strings (alternative)
pull a lot of strings (alternative)