carry weight

English

Verb

carry weight (third-person singular simple present carries weight, present participle carrying weight, simple past and past participle carried weight)

1. To be handicapped by an extra burden, as when one rides or runs.
2. To have influence.

   Your excuses don't carry weight with me.

   • 1948, Rollo H. Myers, Erik Satie, D. Dobson, page 31:

     When M. Paladilhe was elected my friends said to me: 'Never mind; later on he'll vote for you, Maestro, and his support will carry a lot of weight'. I never had his vote, nor his support, nor his weight.

   • 2002, Elizabeth Moynihan, Destiny's Whisper, Writers Club Press, page 376:

     Manning Senior carries a lot of weight around here, he has a lot of friends; a lot of professional clout and can obviously get things done just barely within the lines of legality.

   • 2010, Gordon Ryan, American Voices: State of Rebellion,, page 247:

     A recommendation from him carries a lot of weight around here.

Related terms

• carry one's weight

Translations

to have influence

• Finnish: olla painoarvoa, olla merkitystä, painaa (fi)
• French: peser dans la balance (fr)

Further reading

• “carry weight”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “carry weight”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “carry weight” (US) / “carry weight” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.