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Showing results for matinée idol. Search instead for Matinee+Idol.
Synonyms

matinée idol

American  

noun

  1. a male actor, usually a leading man, idolized especially by female audiences.


matinée idol British  

noun

  1. (esp in the 1930s and 1940s) an actor popular as a romantic figure among women

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of matinée idol

First recorded in 1900–05


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Some movie stars appear to have already accepted the demise of the matinée idol and jumped to streaming services.

From BBC ● May 24, 2024

Jamie Lee Curtis is Hollywood royalty: her parents were Janet Leigh, the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” and Tony Curtis, the matinée idol from “Sweet Smell of Success.”

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 1, 2019

After the matinée idol Rudolph Valentino died, in 1926, some hundred thousand fans mobbed the streets of New York during his funeral, smashing windows and clamoring to get a last glimpse of his face.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 9, 2019

Joseph Estrada, a former matinée idol who had often played Robin Hood types, rose to the presidency by promising to be hard on bad guys and good to the poor.

From Economist ● Sep. 14, 2017

She had been as foolish over him as a schoolgirl in the matter of a matinée idol.

From The Highgrader by D. C. Hutchison

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