Word.ws English Dictionary

pulls strings

pulls strings is the third-person singular simple present indicative of pull strings.

Meaning of pull strings

Verb

pull strings (third-person singular simple present pulls strings, present participle pulling strings, simple past and past participle pulled strings)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To manipulate a situation, especially by asking favours of others; to use one's influence with others to attain a desired goal.
    • He has the job not because of talent, but because his dad pulled strings with the boss.
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive, often, pull one's strings) To control a person, organization, or situation by operating behind the scenes, as a puppeteer controls a marionette.
    • We know who pulls the strings around here.

Questions about pulls strings

What is pulls strings the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Pulls strings is the third-person singular simple present indicative of pull strings.

Words near pulls strings in the dictionary

  1. pulls someone's chestnuts out of the fire
  2. pulls someone's fat out of the fire
  3. pulls someone's leg
  4. pulls someone's plonker
  5. pulls someone's plumes
  6. pulls strings
  7. pulls teeth
  8. pulls the fire alarm
  9. pulls the football
  10. pulls the ladder up after oneself
  11. pulls the ladder up behind oneself

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pulls strings (page history and authors); pull strings (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “pulls strings.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pulls_strings. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.