hold the purse strings
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Many filmmakers told me that those who hold the purse strings don’t consider such filmmaking a good investment.
From Salon • May 22, 2026
As investment prospects darken, financiers increasingly view the game as a way to build 'guanxi' or connections with officials who hold the purse strings on local projects, especially those overseas investors might consider too risky.
From Reuters • Aug. 28, 2023
And although high-minded physicists may accept the importance of validation instead of being first to a discovery, the concept of coming in “second place” is a harder sell for politicians who hold the purse strings.
From Scientific American • Apr. 13, 2022
Christian Lindner: As finance minister it's the Free Democrat leader who will hold the purse strings and much of the power.
From BBC • Dec. 3, 2021
He got his punishment, however, not from the author, but from the public who hold the purse strings.
From My Reminiscences by Hesh, Sasi Kumar
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.
