power of the purse
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
The ability to control spending and budget decisions
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Khả năng kiểm soát chi tiêu và quyết định ngân sách
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: control over financial resources
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The parliament wielded the power of the purse to limit the president's military initiatives
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “power of the purse” mean?
The ability to control spending and budget decisions Literally: control over financial resources
Is “power of the purse” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.