See powers that be in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "grc",
"3": "αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι",
"4": "",
"5": "the existing authorities"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι (hai oûsai exousíai, “the existing authorities”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "subjunctive"
},
"expansion": "subjunctive",
"name": "glossary"
}
],
"etymology_text": "After Romans 13:1 in the Tyndale Bible and the King James Version.\nThe phrase is a translation of the Ancient Greek αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι (hai oûsai exousíai, “the existing authorities”). “Be” is the archaic third-person plural present indicative form, equivalent to the modern “are”, not a subjunctive.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "the powers that be",
"tags": [
"canonical",
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "p",
"def": "1"
},
"expansion": "the powers that be pl (plural only)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English pluralia tantum",
"parents": [
"Pluralia tantum",
"Nouns",
"Lemmas"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Cornish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Greek translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Collectives",
"orig": "en:Collectives",
"parents": [
"Miscellaneous",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "TPTB"
},
{
"word": "PTB"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1857, Anthony Trollope, chapter 2, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC:",
"text": "It appeared as though the hospital at Barchester would fall into abeyance, unless the powers that be should take some steps towards putting it once more into working order.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1929, Alexander Berkman, chapter 10, in Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism, New York: Vanguard Press, →OCLC:",
"text": "Whoever you elect, he will legislate in favor of ‘law and order,’ to protect things as they are. The main concern of the powers that be is that the people should continue to believe in and uphold the existing system.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1975, “Fight the Power (Part 1 & 2)”, in The Heat Is On, performed by The Isley Brothers:",
"text": "Time is truly wastin', there's no guarantee / Smile is in the makin', we've got to fight the powers that be",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021, “Skyline”, in Parallel World, performed by Cadence Weapon:",
"text": "The powers that be, they trick us / Loopholes to evict us",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The holders of power or the authorities in a given situation, especially if seen as being faceless or unreasonably bureaucratic."
],
"id": "en-powers_that_be-en-noun-e274c~Mi",
"links": [
[
"authorities",
"authorities"
],
[
"faceless",
"faceless"
],
[
"bureaucratic",
"bureaucratic"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) The holders of power or the authorities in a given situation, especially if seen as being faceless or unreasonably bureaucratic."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "establishment"
},
{
"word": "the man"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "powers-that-be"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"plural",
"plural-only"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "當權者"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "dāngquán zhě",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "当权者"
},
{
"code": "kw",
"lang": "Cornish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "an awtoritas"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "gevestigde orde"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "hoge heren"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "hogerhand"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "esivalta"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "autorités constituées"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "die zuständigen Stellen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "die da oben"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "armódioi",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "αρμόδιοι"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "poteri forti"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "grupa trzymająca władzę"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "vlastʹ imuščije",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "власть имущие"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "silʹnyje mira sevo",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "сильные мира сего"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "vlasti prederžaščije",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "власти предержащие"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "makthavare"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "överhet"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"King James Version",
"Tyndale Bible"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-powers that be.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cf/En-au-powers_that_be.ogg/En-au-powers_that_be.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/En-au-powers_that_be.ogg"
}
],
"word": "powers that be"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"word": "TPTB"
},
{
"word": "PTB"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "grc",
"3": "αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι",
"4": "",
"5": "the existing authorities"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι (hai oûsai exousíai, “the existing authorities”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "subjunctive"
},
"expansion": "subjunctive",
"name": "glossary"
}
],
"etymology_text": "After Romans 13:1 in the Tyndale Bible and the King James Version.\nThe phrase is a translation of the Ancient Greek αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι (hai oûsai exousíai, “the existing authorities”). “Be” is the archaic third-person plural present indicative form, equivalent to the modern “are”, not a subjunctive.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "the powers that be",
"tags": [
"canonical",
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "p",
"def": "1"
},
"expansion": "the powers that be pl (plural only)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "establishment"
},
{
"word": "the man"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English pluralia tantum",
"English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
"English terms derived from the Bible",
"English terms with quotations",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Cornish translations",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Greek translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
"en:Collectives",
"en:People"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1857, Anthony Trollope, chapter 2, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC:",
"text": "It appeared as though the hospital at Barchester would fall into abeyance, unless the powers that be should take some steps towards putting it once more into working order.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1929, Alexander Berkman, chapter 10, in Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism, New York: Vanguard Press, →OCLC:",
"text": "Whoever you elect, he will legislate in favor of ‘law and order,’ to protect things as they are. The main concern of the powers that be is that the people should continue to believe in and uphold the existing system.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1975, “Fight the Power (Part 1 & 2)”, in The Heat Is On, performed by The Isley Brothers:",
"text": "Time is truly wastin', there's no guarantee / Smile is in the makin', we've got to fight the powers that be",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021, “Skyline”, in Parallel World, performed by Cadence Weapon:",
"text": "The powers that be, they trick us / Loopholes to evict us",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The holders of power or the authorities in a given situation, especially if seen as being faceless or unreasonably bureaucratic."
],
"links": [
[
"authorities",
"authorities"
],
[
"faceless",
"faceless"
],
[
"bureaucratic",
"bureaucratic"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) The holders of power or the authorities in a given situation, especially if seen as being faceless or unreasonably bureaucratic."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"plural",
"plural-only"
],
"wikipedia": [
"King James Version",
"Tyndale Bible"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-powers that be.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cf/En-au-powers_that_be.ogg/En-au-powers_that_be.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/En-au-powers_that_be.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "powers-that-be"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "當權者"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "dāngquán zhě",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "当权者"
},
{
"code": "kw",
"lang": "Cornish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "an awtoritas"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "gevestigde orde"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "hoge heren"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "hogerhand"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "esivalta"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "autorités constituées"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "die zuständigen Stellen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "die da oben"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "armódioi",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "αρμόδιοι"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "poteri forti"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "grupa trzymająca władzę"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "vlastʹ imuščije",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "власть имущие"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "silʹnyje mira sevo",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "сильные мира сего"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "vlasti prederžaščije",
"sense": "holders of power",
"word": "власти предержащие"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "makthavare"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "holders of power",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "överhet"
}
],
"word": "powers that be"
}
Download raw JSONL data for powers that be meaning in English (5.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.