fat cat

American  

noun

Slang.

1. a wealthy person from whom large political campaign contributions are expected.

2. any wealthy person, especially one who has become rich quickly through questionable dealings.

3. an important, influential, or famous person.

4. a person who has become lazy or self-satisfied as the result of privilege or advantage.

---

fat cat British  

noun

1. slang

   1. a very wealthy or influential person

   2. ( as modifier )

      a fat-cat industrialist

---

fat cat Idioms  

1. A wealthy and privileged person, as in This neighborhood, with its million-dollar estates, is full of fat cats. This term originally meant “a rich contributor to a political campaign,” and while this usage persists, it now is often applied more broadly, as in the example. [Colloquial; 1920s]

---

Etymology

Origin of fat cat

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

Example Sentences

His fat cat industrialist Zsa-Zsa Korda is no underground rebel.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026

But she’s practical; she’ll do what it takes to survive in a world of gross inequality, where Hades is an industrial fat cat and artists and workers are largely servile.

From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2022

"It is not a fat cat scheme for people at the top of the business," boss John Roberts told the BBC's Today Programme.

From BBC • Jul. 22, 2020

But together with government documents, the picture they paint of Jones and Williams suggests a leadership that has at times aspired more to the role of fat cat than defender of workers.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 26, 2019

“And you say this fat cat travlin around with his momma?”

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole