strongman
noun
strong·man
ˈstrȯŋ-ˌman 
: one who leads or controls by force of will and character or by military methods
Synonyms
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
In 2016, the MAGA crowd delighted in memes circulated on red-pill forums that depicted Trump as a cartoonish strongman who was exactly as hateful and despotic as the left feared.
—
Rebecca Jennings, Vox, 23 July 2024
Fearful of elevating the army as a competing power center, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the strongman who ruled the country from 1987 until his overthrow in 2011, relied instead on the police and intelligence services as his enforcers.
—Shadi Hamid, Foreign Affairs, 28 Mar. 2023
The Venezuelan strongman was apparently worried that while Washington could drop its charges against him, the U.S. government was in no position to stop an investigation by the International Criminal Court into widespread human rights abuses attributed to the Maduro government.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2024
Egyptian relatives of mine noted the similarities between the attack on Trump and a plot on Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser in October 1954.
—Shadi Hamid, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for strongman 
Rebecca Jennings, Vox, 23 July 2024
Fearful of elevating the army as a competing power center, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the strongman who ruled the country from 1987 until his overthrow in 2011, relied instead on the police and intelligence services as his enforcers.
—Shadi Hamid, Foreign Affairs, 28 Mar. 2023
The Venezuelan strongman was apparently worried that while Washington could drop its charges against him, the U.S. government was in no position to stop an investigation by the International Criminal Court into widespread human rights abuses attributed to the Maduro government.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2024
Egyptian relatives of mine noted the similarities between the attack on Trump and a plot on Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser in October 1954.
—Shadi Hamid, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for strongman
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'strongman.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Strongman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/strongman. Accessed 20 Sep. 2024.
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