figurehead
Americannoun
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a person nominally having a prominent position, but no real authority
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a carved bust or full-length figure at the upper end of the stems of some sailing vessels
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of figurehead
Explanation
A figurehead is someone who appears to be in charge, but who really holds very little influence. In many countries today, kings and queens are merely figureheads. A ceremonial president or king — one installed as a symbolic head of a country, while someone else holds the real power — is one type of figurehead. If a retiring businesswoman promotes her son to be the new CEO of her company, while putting a different person in charge of running the business, the son is just a figurehead. The word figurehead comes from its original meaning, the figures carved at the front of old sailing ships.
Vocabulary lists containing figurehead
Revolution in Our Time
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Civilizations of East Asia and Southeast Asia, Lesson 4–7
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fig
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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 they're adamant it needs a figurehead to drive it forward and take on accountability.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Does a new figurehead automatically deliver a better city region?
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Yet those who know Khan say she is unlikely to serve as a figurehead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
"Don't worry about the dog, just answer the question," replied journalist Sarah Ferguson, who was grilling Joyce on his party leader Pauline Hanson's recent meeting with far-right British figurehead Tommy Robinson.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Festus the figurehead blew flames and chargrilled them out of the sky.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Second-wave feminism continued to gain momentum, and Steinem was one of its most famous figureheads.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
The attacks against AI figureheads have no demonstrable ties to one another, nor do they claim affiliation with any shared organization.
From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026
Maggie Thatcher came a few years before Reagan, but they were closely allied and historically linked as figureheads of the triumphant New Right.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2026
But on Sunday, it rallied around one of Wall Street’s most recognizable figureheads: the 72-year-old Fed chair.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 13, 2026
For indeed, we are nothing but figureheads to complex forces which seem to be under a kind of impulse.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
