might makes/is right
idiom
—used to say that people who have power are able to do what they want because no one can stop them
Examples of might makes/is right in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That would be a saddening surrender to might makes right.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 12 Aug. 2025
Yet today’s trade policy represents a return to a form of power politics in which might makes right.
—Michael B. G. Froman, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2025
Angry, loud, sometimes violent protests against Jews and Israel do not prove that might makes right.
—Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2025
The fundamental conflict at the heart of the classic Western pits civilization against lawlessness and the notion that might makes right against order and justice.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 18 July 2025
For McCloughan, bigger is better, might is right, long arms are strong arms, etc., etc.
—Matt Barrows, New York Times, 1 May 2025
The president’s apparent over-arching ethos – might is right, and mine is greatest – is now demolishing geopolitical norms at speed.
—Nic Robertson, CNN Money, 29 Apr. 2025
Trump believes that might makes right, that weakness deserves contempt, and that fairness is irrelevant.
—Mohammed Soliman, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Apr. 2025
In this new dispensation where might makes right, any appeal to moral considerations in the practice of American foreign policy is ridiculed as a deficiency of the weak while the amoral exercise of power is venerated as a virtue of the strong.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 26 Mar. 2025
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Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 12 Aug. 2025
Yet today’s trade policy represents a return to a form of power politics in which might makes right.
—Michael B. G. Froman, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2025
Angry, loud, sometimes violent protests against Jews and Israel do not prove that might makes right.
—Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2025
The fundamental conflict at the heart of the classic Western pits civilization against lawlessness and the notion that might makes right against order and justice.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 18 July 2025
For McCloughan, bigger is better, might is right, long arms are strong arms, etc., etc.
—Matt Barrows, New York Times, 1 May 2025
The president’s apparent over-arching ethos – might is right, and mine is greatest – is now demolishing geopolitical norms at speed.
—Nic Robertson, CNN Money, 29 Apr. 2025
Trump believes that might makes right, that weakness deserves contempt, and that fairness is irrelevant.
—Mohammed Soliman, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Apr. 2025
In this new dispensation where might makes right, any appeal to moral considerations in the practice of American foreign policy is ridiculed as a deficiency of the weak while the amoral exercise of power is venerated as a virtue of the strong.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 26 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Might makes/is right.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/might%20makes%2Fis%20right. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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