Grip on power

'Grip on power' is a term used to describe the ability of someone to stay in power

Keywords:

Learn

DefinitionYour turn

“Grip on power” is a term used to describe how secure a leader’s power is. This is typically used with leaders that would not face term limits or other natural ending points to their tenure.

With countries, you would say a leader has a “strong grip on power” if it’s unlikely that the leader will be removed (either by a vote or other means). Xi Jinping has a strong grip on power; it’s unlikely that he will be removed from his position as China’s leader any time soon.

You can say someone is “losing his grip on power” if that person once seemed safe in his position, but he now may lose his position.

Until recently, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a strong grip on power in Turkey. The country is a democracy, and has open votes for president, but one observer said every election is just like a football game…if one team has 11 players and the other team has eight. For that reason, we could say that Erdoğan had a strong grip on power.

But now public opinion may be turning against him. It’s too early to tell now, but it appears that he may be losing his grip on power after the earthquake.

Use realistic expressions like a native speaker


Plus+ feature

Write a sentence with this Expression

Get personal, human feedback on the examples that you write. Build the confidence to use this Expression in the real world

Back to Casual Dictionary