Word.ws English Dictionary

throw one's weight around

throw one's weight around verb: to exercise influence or authority, especially to an excessive degree or in an objectionable manner.

Verb

throw one's weight around (third-person singular simple present throws one's weight around, present participle throwing one's weight around, simple past threw one's weight around, past participle thrown one's weight around)

  1. (idiomatic) To exercise influence or authority, especially to an excessive degree or in an objectionable manner.
    • Jim was a tyrant who threw his weight around when it came to punishing his students.

Forms of throw one's weight around

third-person singular presentthrows one's weight around
present participlethrowing one's weight around
pastthrew one's weight around
past participlethrown one's weight around

Questions about throw one's weight around

What does throw one's weight around mean?
Throw one's weight around means to exercise influence or authority, especially to an excessive degree or in an objectionable manner.
What part of speech is throw one's weight around?
Throw one's weight around is a verb.
What is the past tense of throw one's weight around?
The past tense of throw one's weight around is threw one's weight around.

Words near throw one's weight around in the dictionary

  1. throw one's rattle out of the cot
  2. throw one's rattle out of the pram
  3. throw one's toys out of the cot
  4. throw one's toys out of the pram
  5. throw one's voice
  6. throw one's weight around
  7. throw one's weight behind
  8. throw oneself at
  9. throw oneself behind
  10. throw oneself into
  11. throw oneself on someone's mercy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw one's weight around (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-throw one's weight around.ogg.

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