Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

corridors of power

Idioms  

  1. 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.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Trump had called Wei a legend and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which Wei leads, the world’s most powerful company—boosting spirits in Taipei’s corridors of power.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

Larry the cat, the UK's most famous feline, marks 15 years on Sunday as the country's chief mouser patrolling the corridors of power around number 10 Downing Street.

From Barron's • Feb. 15, 2026

But what you hear privately admitted in EU's corridors of power in Brussels, is that the money is slowing running out.

From BBC • Nov. 17, 2025

“Who should have access to the corridors of power and leadership?”

From MarketWatch • Oct. 25, 2025

Or they live in the corridors of power, and - like politicians - massage the facts, and make those fit the mold of the times.

From Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy by Colignatus, Thomas

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.