condottiere
Americannoun
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a leader of a private band of mercenary soldiers in Italy, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries.
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any mercenary; soldier of fortune.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of condottiere
1785–95; < Italian, equivalent to condott ( o ) (< Latin conductus hired man, past participle of condūcere to conduce; see conduct) + -iere < Latin -ārius -ary
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:
But he was really little more than a condottiere, and his orthodoxy was suspect.
From The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir by Douie, James McCrone, Sir
They seem to have been led by the men of Caen under a Lombard condottiere called Le Grand Jacques, or as the English poem has it:— "Guaunte Jakys a werryour wyse."
From The Story of Rouen by Cook, Theodore Andrea, Sir
Dlugosz brought Olesnicki the red hat from Rome in 1449, and shortly afterwards was despatched to Hungary to mediate between Hunyadi and the Bohemian condottiere Giszkra, a difficult mission which he most successfully accomplished.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 5 "Dinard" to "Dodsworth" by Various
He forgets that he is in the eternal world, and dips for the moment into a brawl in some Italian market-place, or into the council-chamber of some factious condottiere.
From Three Philosophical Poets Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe by Santayana, George
He had died at eighty, as lusty and hard and sound an old condottiere as any other professional fighter who bestrode a bronze horse in an Italian piazza.
From Rough-Hewn by Canfield, Dorothy
The chosen electors went about that serious task with all the noble intent and show of national interest of a group of condottieri.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like the humanist condottieri of 15th century Italy, they built themselves impregnable and magnificent castles.
From Time Magazine Archive
This man, as I said, having been named by the Syracusans commander of their armies, immediately realized that mercenary forces were useless, since their condottieri were men like our Italian condottieri.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
As a result, these condottieri have conducted Italy into slavery and disgrace.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
In Italy, where the condottieri chiefly flourished, they were in demand owing to the want of feudal cavalry, and the inability of burgher infantry to undertake wars of aggression.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various
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.
