matador

American  

[mat-uh-dawr] / ˈmæt əˌdɔr /

noun

• matadors
  plural

1. the principal bullfighter in a bullfight who passes the bull with a muleta and then, in many countries, kills it with a sword thrust; a torero.

2. one of the principal cards in skat and certain other games.

3. (initial capital letter) a jet-powered U.S. surface-to-surface missile.

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matador British  

/ ˈmætədɔː /

noun

1. the principal bullfighter who is appointed to kill the bull

2. (in some card games such as skat) one of the highest ranking cards

3. a game played with dominoes in which the dots on adjacent halves must total seven

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• matadors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of matador

1665–75; < Spanish, equivalent to mata ( r ) to kill (perhaps < Vulgar Latin *mattāre, presumed derivative of Late Latin mattus soft, weak; cf. matte ¹) +- dor -tor

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Compare meaning

How does matador compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• toreador vs. matador

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

matador matadors

He has now traded match play for the business arena, where he happily confirms his trademark matador edge remains intact.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

His name is Mikel Merino, and he’s fast turning into Spain’s World Cup matador.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

The author’s there, the affable Fernando González Viñas, flanked by a matador and his entourage.

From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026

This relentless bull market may finally have found its matador.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

“Drawings, usually in color and very large, showing a matador with his cape, a bull trying to gore him.”

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

The one corrida Manolete went to as a child didn’t excite him in the least, and when kids at school pretended to be bulls and matadors, play-fighting with one another, Manolete kept to himself.

From New York Times ● May 3, 2022

Wearing mandatory face masks and sitting in fumigated seats separated by stickers, fans watched matadors take on seven bulls in a charity contest to raise money for jobless bullfighters and other workers in the sector.

From Reuters ● May 2, 2021

Wagon-wheel chandelier, cereal boxes, dirty dishes, green shag carpet, orange vinyl couch patched with duct tape, two sad-looking boys dressed as matadors staring from a painting on the wall.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2018

There are many matadors, picadors, minotaurs, bulls and horses in a new show exploring Picasso and the importance of bullfighting – but also a glimpse of his terrible treatment of women.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 26, 2017

There were two other matadors, but they did not count.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

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