empty suit

noun

: an ineffectual executive

Examples of empty suit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
And Barry the man, especially during the 10-year height of his crime spree, remains a cipher, an empty suit, a literary type rather than a real character — a figure bereft of purpose, ideas and compelling pathos. Carl Hoffman, Washington Post, 24 June 2024 Seinfeld plays Bob Cabana, the company’s head of development (loosely based on William Post), and Jim Gaffigan is Edsel Kellogg III, the head of the company, who’s still just a blowhard of an empty suit because all his success is inherited. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 May 2024 Shiv is aghast and, before stomping off, calls Tom an empty suit. Anne Branigin, Washington Post, 29 May 2023 Clinton ended up being an empty suit. D. Roger Pederson, Star Tribune, 18 July 2021 What an overpaid empty suit. Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 24 Sep. 2020 The conference commissioner is an empty suit. John Canzano, oregonlive, 24 Sep. 2020 Joe Biden is an empty suit. Fox News, 10 July 2020 Legendary’s Draemond Winding is not a con man, just an empty suit—Goliath with a sales pitch. Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of empty suit was in 1950

Dictionary Entries Near empty suit

Cite this Entry

“Empty suit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empty%20suit. Accessed 24 Nov. 2024.

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