power structure
Americannoun
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the system of authority or influence in government, politics, education, etc..
The state elections threatened to upset the existing power structure.
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the people who participate in such a system.
She hoped to become a part of the power structure.
noun
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the structure or distribution of power and authority in a community
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the people and groups who are part of such a structure
Etymology
Origin of power structure
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
Nearly all of the city’s power structure — elected officials, labor unions, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, business owners and even the three other democratic socialist councilmembers — has endorsed Bass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
"I don't think it would affect the power structure in Cuba very much anymore. He's 94," Isacson said.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
Although he hasn’t held any official post for five years, Raúl Castro is the patriarch of Cuba’s opaque power structure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
The suspects, said NABU, had created a parallel power structure inside the state enterprise overseeing Ukraine's nuclear power plants, which supply half of the country's energy.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
They shuddered when they imagined the many ways the white power structure could punish them if they took a visible stand for equal rights.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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.
