torchbearer
Americannoun
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a person who carries a torch.
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a leader in a movement, campaign, etc..
a torchbearer of democracy.
noun
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a person or thing that carries a torch
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a person who leads or inspires
Etymology
Origin of torchbearer
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.
Greece's rowing bronze medallist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Petros Gaidatzis, has been selected to be the first torchbearer to launch the Greek leg of the Olympic flame relay.
From Barron's • Nov. 25, 2025
There has been some immediate discontent from Scottish Labour figures over this news – that after years being their sole torchbearer at Westminster, Murray has lasted barely a year as Scottish secretary.
From BBC • Sep. 5, 2025
By the time of Cherry’s death in 1995, he was considered a torchbearer for avant-garde jazz.
From New York Times • Mar. 6, 2024
The Soft Moon, “Become the Lies” Cali post-punk torchbearer Luis Vasquez squarely faced his family traumas and alchemized the resulting pain into the Soft Moon’s steely 2022 LP, “Exister.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 24, 2023
He looked at Anya, face paling, then back at the torchbearer.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
