to flex one's muscle
8
6.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
mostrar fuerza
- And it flexes its political muscle, both through lobbying and through campaign donations.
Examples
-
The middle class needs to start flexing its muscles.
Blog text (34) -
Political authorities like to flex their muscle, and it's up to the people to band together to preserve their freedoms.
Blog text (23) -
China is flexing its own military muscle in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
Blog text (17) -
Make no mistake, this is a power struggle and they are flexing their muscle.
Blog text (34) -
Peace through Strength works, and our Navy is best at flexing our muscles.
Blog text (23) -
Kolkata may have seen a change of guard, but the culture of flexing political muscle has hardly changed.
Blog text (19) -
The Supreme Court has grown dangerous, flexing its non-democratic muscles and daring us to do anything about it.
Blog text (6) -
That did not stop the bureaucracy from flexing its muscle and using fiscal coercion.
Fiction book (2002) -
Presidents understood that if the most powerful country in the world flexed its muscle without regard to the concerns of others, it would create a backlash.
Academic text (2018) -
Beijing is flexing its muscle in international trade negotiations to assert its influence.
Synonyms
3
7.7
To confidently show your skills or style to impress people
To try to impress people by showing off or being charming
Antonyms
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The expression pairs 'flex' (to contract or display a muscle) with 'muscle' used metaphorically as strength or power, so the idea of 'showing strength' is partly inferable from the constituents. However, the pragmatic sense of demonstrating power or making a warning is an extended metaphorical use rather than a strictly literal composition, so a B1 learner who only knows the words may not fully predict the speaker-intent without exposure.
Etymology
Flex one's muscle comes from the simple picture of someone flexing a muscle by bending the arm to show strength. So it means 'to show power or strength' to impress or warn others.