Meanings
prepositional phrase
- idiomaticCompletely controlled by someone; at someone's command.
She has the entire crew under her thumb. They would do anything for her.
2 more examples
...when you find a man under his wife's thumb you can always be sure there's a soft spot in him somewhere.
1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl`Fatty's under the thumb. Yeah it's not hard to see who wears the pants in that family. The wuss.'
1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 144
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 怕老婆的
- 怕老婆的 (pàlǎopó-de)under one's thumb
Danish i sin hule hånd
- i sin hule håndunder one's thumb
Finnish tossun alla, tossutettu
- tossun allaunder one's thumb
- tossutettuunder one's thumb
German unter jemandes Fuchtel
- unter jemandes Fuchtelunder one's thumb
Hungarian az uralma alatt
- az uralma alattunder one's thumb
Italian essere succube (di qualcuno)
- essere succube (di qualcuno)under one's thumb
Japanese 女房天下, 二本棒
- 女房天下 (nyōbō-tenka)under one's thumb
- 二本棒 (nihonbō)under one's thumb
- 鼻下長 (bikachō)under one's thumb
Polish pod pantoflem, pod batem
- pod pantoflemunder one's thumb
- pod batemunder one's thumb
Russian под башмако́м, под каблуко́м
- под башмако́м (pod bašmakóm)under one's thumb
- под каблуко́м (pod kablukóm)under one's thumb
- подкаблу́чник (podkablúčnik)under one's thumb
Scottish Gaelic fo mhaide na poite
- fo mhaide na poiteunder one's thumb
Spanish macabeo
- macabeounder one's thumb
Welsh dan wab
- dan wabunder one's thumb
Cite this entry
APA
under one's thumb. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20one's%20thumb
MLA
“under one's thumb.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20one's%20thumb. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “under one's thumb,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20one's%20thumb.
Source: under one's thumb on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.