authority figure
Americannoun
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.
Konkle describes her mother’s tantrums as emotional thunderstorms that left her feeling resentful that she, the child, was having to comfort a parent, the ostensible authority figure.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
Campo messaged a business partner that August to tell a potential client that Malpica was “presently the maximum authority figure there. Because he is a Flores.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
The “strongman” pose, in other words, is working: an authority figure is the one to deal with a chaotic world.
From Salon ● May 29, 2024
The British comedian and actor pops up in the trailer as some sort of authority figure who asks Arthur/Joker: "What's changed?"
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2024
He was doing that to look like an authority figure, I realized.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
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.
