Definition

1. Adverb:
   • Immediately following or undeservedly benefiting from: Used to describe a situation where someone achieves success or gains an advantage primarily because of their association with another, more successful person or event, rather than through their own merit.

Usage

• This phrase is used to highlight a lack of independent achievement. It suggests the benefit was gained by a close association in time or relationship.
• It often carries a slightly negative or critical connotation, implying the success is not fully earned.
• It is commonly used in political and business contexts.

Examples

• (The senator won because voters supported the presidential candidate, not necessarily because of the senator's own qualities.)
• (She was promoted because she was associated with a successful team, not due to her own outstanding work.)
• (The funding was a result of favorable market conditions, not solely the startup's own merits.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase can be used with possessive forms to specify whose "coattails" provided the benefit (e.g., "on his coattails," "on its coattails").
• It can describe benefits from events as well as people (e.g., "on the coattails of the scandal").

Variants and Related Words

• Coattail effect (noun): The phenomenon itself, where a less popular candidate or idea benefits from the popularity of a top candidate or major event.
  • The local candidates hoped for a strong coattail effect from the gubernatorial race.

Synonyms

• In the wake of: Following closely after, often benefiting from the momentum.
• Riding on the back of: Deriving success from another's efforts (more informal).
• Piggybacking on: Using the success of another as a base for one's own advancement.

Related Idioms

• Ride someone's coattails: This is a verb phrase with the same core meaning as the adverbial form "on the coattails."
  • He's just trying to ride the CEO's coattails to the top. (He is attempting to advance his career by associating with the successful CEO.)

Adverb

1. immediately following or undeservedly benefiting from
   • the CEO resigned on the coattails of the scandal
   • he was elected on his predecessor's coattails