ほしいままにする

Meanings

1

expression, suru verb (irregular)

abuse; exploit to the full; give free rein to

usually written using kana alone

Used when someone indulges their own desires, authority, or impulses without restraint, often with a negative connotation of selfishness or excess.

権けん力りょくをほしいままにする政せい治じ家かは国こく民みんの信しん頼らいを失うしなう。
Politicians who abuse their power lose the trust of the people.

彼かれは欲よく望ぼうをほしいままにして、破は滅めつした。

He gave free rein to his desires and ended up ruining himself.

Written forms

恣ほしいままにする
Kanji form using 恣; rarely used in modern writing.
縦ほしいままにする
Kanji form using 縦; rarely used in modern writing.
擅ほしいままにする
rarely-used kanji form
Kanji form using 擅; it is a rarely used kanji form.

Kanji

恣selfish, arbitrary
縦vertical, length, height
擅self-indulgent

Similar words

好すき放ほう題だい
好き放題 means doing as one pleases, often in a more casual or everyday context, while ほしいままにする implies a stronger, often negative, sense of indulging or abusing power or desires.
濫らん用よう
濫用 is a more formal term for misuse or abuse, especially of authority or substances, whereas ほしいままにする is a literary expression emphasizing unrestrained self-indulgence.

Etymology

The adverb ほしいまま (恣, 縦, 擅) means 'as one wishes' or 'self-indulgently', and combined with する it forms a set phrase meaning 'to act selfishly or without restraint'. The kanji forms are rare and literary.