hold sway

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hold sway (third-person singular simple present holds sway, present participle holding sway, simple past and past participle held sway)

1. (idiomatic) To have the greatest influence (over someone or something); to be pre-eminent; to dominate.
   • 1913, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall, A Wayfarer in China:

     Within Lololand, of course, no Chinese writ runs, no Chinese magistrate holds sway, and the people, more or less divided among themselves, are under the government of their tribal chiefs.

   • 2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are Waged On and Off the Game Of Thrones Battlefield (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 28 January 2021:

     Not only is Jon’s claim to the Iron Throne stronger than hers, thanks to a patriarchal society, but her heroic deeds—and the attendant risks—hold no sway in the North.

   • 2024 March 28, Nick Robins-Early, “‘He knew it was wrong’: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison over FTX fraud”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Neither appeal seemed to hold sway with Kaplan, who stated that while he took into account that Bankman-Fried has autism and is socially awkward, he had committed a very serious crime.