pull rank

present singular third person pulls rank · participle present pulling rank · participle past pulled rank · past pulled rank

1. To assert one's authority over a subordinate who disagrees.

   You can definitely pull rank on me on this —

   2025 August 1, Ezra Klein, “Behind Trump and Vance Is This Man’s Movement”, in The New York Times

   2 more examples

   Graduate schools teach students to use footnotes as authorities — barriers to anyone's questioning the author's conclusions. Professionalism then becomes a matter of pulling rank: the person who has the most footnotes has the last say.

   1980 February 9, Charley Shively, “Radical History: Not Radical Enough”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 28, page 12

   And don't try pulling rank again: your answer, not your age, will determine your fate!

   2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: The Great Tree