1. Home
2. Idioms
3. ride on coattails

ride on coattails

---

---

ride on someone's coattails

 and hang on someone's coattails

Fig. to make one's good fortune or success on the strength of someone else's. (Also with else, as in the examples.) Bill isn't very creative, so he rides on John's coattails. Some people just have to hang on somebody else's coattails.

See also: coattail, on, ride