friends in high places

noun

Friends who have authority or influence and who can ensure that one's interests will be protected or furthered.

Opposite
friends in low places
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Meanings

nounfriends in high places pl (plural only)
  1. idiomaticpluralplural onlyFriends who have authority or influence and who can ensure that one's interests will be protected or furthered.

    In recent years he was protected by friends in high places.

    1987 November 30, “War Crimes: Long Road To Justice”, in Time, retrieved 18 May 2015
    4 more examples

    "Herr Freudenberg himself has great friends here, friends in high places. He will see that nothing happens."

    1913, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 10, in The Mischief Maker

    Being far from the distant throne, we little people need more important people to plead our cause and obtain spiritual and material blessings. We need friends in high places, so to speak. Because she is the Mother of the Lord, Mary is the most powerful intercessor of all, obtaining gifts that might otherwise be denied.

    2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America, volume 182, number 21

    In Petrograd they were in great danger but had many friends in high places, and with money for bribes they avoided arrest.

    2006 April 1, Phillip Alder, “On a Day Made for Tricks, Lots of Ways to Get Them All”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 May 2015

    I walk into the corner of my room / See my friends in high places / I don't know which is which or who is whom / They've stolen each other's faces

    2008, “More News From Nowhere”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
friends in low places

Translations

Finnish vaikutusvaltaiset ystävät
  • vaikutusvaltaiset ystävätfriends who have authority or influence
Hungarian befolyásos barátok
  • befolyásos barátokfriends who have authority or influence
Polish mocne plecy
  • mocne plecyfriends who have authority or influence
Spanish tener buenas aldabas, buenas aldabas
  • tener buenas aldabasfriends who have authority or influence
  • buenas aldabasfriends who have authority or influence
Cite this entry
APA

friends in high places. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friends%20in%20high%20places

MLA

“friends in high places.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friends%20in%20high%20places. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “friends in high places,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friends%20in%20high%20places.

Source: friends in high places on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.