pull rank

idiom

: to use one's high position in a society, organization, group, etc., to order someone to do something or to get special treatment or privileges

He's their boss, but he doesn't like to pull rank (on them) if he can avoid it.

Examples of pull rank in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Raffael, who butchers his English, and Claudia, quick to pull rank, have a weekly assignation behind Paul’s back; Paul and Leo run a drug cartel with Raffael’s ambassadorial assistance. —Jesse Green, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2023

Indeed, he is unflatteringly portrayed at times as someone who loses his temper and likes to pull rank. —Victoria Murphy, Town & Country, 10 Jan. 2023

And for generations of university students worldwide, Godard has been a figure to be deployed as a badge of honor when attempting to establish cultural credentials or pull rank—rendering as passé the likes of John Ford, Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa. —David Mermelstein, WSJ, 13 Sep. 2022

To avoid conflict, and to pull rank, the Queen withdraws with her red box of official government papers. —Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2022

Car campers may pay, but hikers just spread out a groundsheet and a sleeping bag, and the spot is theirs; only a bear can pull rank. —Nicholas Kristof, National Geographic, 8 Sep. 2020