UNDER SOMEONE'S THUMB Definition & Meaning

under someone's thumb

Controlled or dominated by someone, as in He's been under his mother's thumb for years. The allusion in this metaphoric idiom is unclear, that is, why a thumb rather than a fist or some other anatomic part should symbolize control. [Mid-1700s]

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Example Sentences

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Yet this film is the closest he’s come to expressing the rage of living under someone’s thumb.

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And she transforms it into this journey of self-discovery of Priscilla Presley going from being a young girl sort of under someone’s thumb to becoming a woman of her own sort of power and abilities.

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"I want them to get the punishment that they deserve, because to be under someone's thumb, to do the things they want you to do for them... They steal your freedom - they use you, rule you - I don't know, it's very degrading."

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“Not only was it disruptive, but it was embarrassing for her to be so viscerally reminded that she is under someone’s thumb. That was jarring.”

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He’s always under someone’s thumb, indebted in ways he can’t begin to understand.

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under someone's spell under someone's wing

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under someone's thumb

Example Sentences