the powers that be

phrase

: the people who decide what is allowed or acceptable in a group, organization, etc.

The students wanted to have a big party, but the powers that be didn't approve.

Examples of the powers that be in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Juliette is making the powers that be very nervous, almost forcing them to pull the trigger on the Safeguard. — Noel Murray, Vulture, 17 July 2026

That would require the powers that be in the organization — Posey’s fellow co-owners — to accept reality. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 14 July 2026

Despite handwringing from the powers that be, genre defenders argued that was a literary history behind Sky of Love and its contemporaries. — Literary Hub, 13 July 2026

For decades, the powers that be have burdened the Eastside with freeways, warehouses, public corruption, unsightly developments that have brought on gentrification and civic negligence bordering on the criminal. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026

Rhymes for the powers that be

• actuary
• antiquary
• bolsheviki
• bronchoscopy
• calliope
• chelicerae
• colposcopy
• covenantee
• cruciferae
• cystoscopy
• diastole
• distributee