first among equals
nounEtymology Calque of Latin primus inter pares.
1
Idiomatic A person or position that is formally of equal rank to others in a group, but nonetheless takes a leading role within that group.
- The Orthodox consider the bishop of Rome to have always been merely a first among equals.
- I wonder whether Margaret Thatcher, Harold Macmillan, Winston Churchill, Lloyd George, Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone (going back in time) thought of themselves as mere firsts among equals.2003, H. Y. Sharada Prasad, The Book I Won't be Writing and Other Essays, page 40:
- Related terms
- more equal