strongman
noun
strong·man
ˈstrȯŋ-ˌman 
: one who leads or controls by force of will and character or by military methods
Examples of strongman in a Sentence
a Latin-American strongman who basically treated his nation's coffers as his personal bank account
Recent Examples on the Web
She had not been permitted to run against the strongman president, Nicolás Maduro, in the summer of 2024, but by the tallies of electoral observers (an official count is still unavailable), her surrogate garnered a majority of the vote.
—
Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2025
The persecution worsened more than a decade ago during uprisings that remade the Middle East by toppling dictators — including Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak — but in some places spiraled into civil war.
—Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
An economy under mounting strain and at odds with the European strongman image that Macron has sought to project.
—Saskya Vandoorne, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2025
The strongman, in short, promises to do what the slow workings of constitutional government and the conventional policy process cannot.
—Russell Muirhead, Foreign Affairs, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for strongman
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Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2025
The persecution worsened more than a decade ago during uprisings that remade the Middle East by toppling dictators — including Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak — but in some places spiraled into civil war.
—Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
An economy under mounting strain and at odds with the European strongman image that Macron has sought to project.
—Saskya Vandoorne, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2025
The strongman, in short, promises to do what the slow workings of constitutional government and the conventional policy process cannot.
—Russell Muirhead, Foreign Affairs, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for strongman
Cite this Entry
“Strongman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/strongman. Accessed 14 Sep. 2025.
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