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.

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Example Sentences

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corridors of power

Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery and Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler's stock is high with those in the corridors of power at United - but extracting them from their respective clubs would be difficult.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

But in the corridors of power that run the game in Europe and North America, one goal still remains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

The paranoia runs in the corridors of power at the Bernabeu and will now be in the dugout with Mourinho - although, in fact, predecessor Alvaro Arbeloa has bought that vision of the world already.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

A new cast of Castros is emerging in Cuba: a grandson and a great-nephew are moving up the corridors of power, while another is an eccentric Instagram influencer declaring that Cubans want capitalism.

From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026

Nor can they serve as "US Ambassadors" in the European corridors of power.

From The Belgian Curtain Europe after Communism by Samuel Vaknin

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Related Words

• hierarchy
• ruling class

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