as in dictator
a person who uses power or authority in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way
a Latin-American strongman who basically treated his nation's coffers as his personal bank account
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Recent Examples of strongman
Owen Power is a 6-foot-6, 226-pound strongman.
—
Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
Al-Sharaa’s historic trip to New York underscored his own transformation from militant to statesman, after leading the revolution to oust longtime Syrian strongman Bashar Assad in December.
—Laura Kelly, The Hill, 25 Sep. 2025
In the wake of this battlefield victory, Aliyev, who has been Azerbaijan’s strongman president since 2003, negotiated with Armenia on a peace agreement but seemed to be in no hurry to conclude it, confident that his country had the upper hand in the regional balance of power.
—Thomas De Waal, Foreign Affairs, 22 Sep. 2025
This outcome would resemble what happened in Hungary after Viktor Orbán, another nationalist strongman, was elected as Prime Minister, in 2010.
—John Cassidy, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for strongman
Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
Al-Sharaa’s historic trip to New York underscored his own transformation from militant to statesman, after leading the revolution to oust longtime Syrian strongman Bashar Assad in December.
—Laura Kelly, The Hill, 25 Sep. 2025
In the wake of this battlefield victory, Aliyev, who has been Azerbaijan’s strongman president since 2003, negotiated with Armenia on a peace agreement but seemed to be in no hurry to conclude it, confident that his country had the upper hand in the regional balance of power.
—Thomas De Waal, Foreign Affairs, 22 Sep. 2025
This outcome would resemble what happened in Hungary after Viktor Orbán, another nationalist strongman, was elected as Prime Minister, in 2010.
—John Cassidy, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for strongman
Recent Examples of Synonyms for strongman
Noun
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He had been found guilty of conspiring to raise funds from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his campaign, and became the first post-World War II leader in France to go to jail.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
24 Oct. 2025
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These deployments are nothing more than partisan spite from an increasingly unhinged aspiring dictator, and the Supreme Court must halt them.—
Newsweek Contributors,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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As historian Timothy Snyder warns, tyrants will always take advantage of a national crisis to consolidate their power and remove their opponents’ civil liberties.—
Rev. Nathan Empsall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
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So how should CHROs and other talent leaders handle reports of an office tyrant?—
Susan Caminiti,
CNBC,
14 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Strongman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/strongman. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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