fat cat

American  

noun

Slang.

• fat cats
  plural

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.

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fat cat British  

noun

1. slang

   1. a very wealthy or influential person

   2. ( as modifier )

      a fat-cat industrialist

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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]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fat cats
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fat cat

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fat cat

By no means is this an exclusive club of big-market fat cat teams.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Amid this, we follow many lives, including two brothers looking for work, a showgirl, a villainous spy, a conscienceless fat cat and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, labor organizer, feminist and, later, a founder of the ACLU.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 13, 2021

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

But Mr Fankhauser defended the £8.3m he has been paid since November 2014, and denied he was a "fat cat".

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2019

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

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole