knight-errant
noun
a wandering knight; a knight who traveled widely in search of adventures, to exhibit military skill, to engage in chivalric deeds, etc.
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knight-errant
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knight errant
knight errantnoun(esp in medieval romance) a knight who wanders in search of deeds of courage, chivalry, etc
knight-errant
American
[nahyt-er-uhnt]
/ ˈnaɪtˈɛr ənt /
noun
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knights-errant
plural
knight errant
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of knight-errant
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50
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:
Nonetheless, he is regarded by some in the astronomy community as a knight-errant, tilting at windmills.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 29, 2021
One man came as a patriotic duck; another as a bald eagle; another as a cross between a knight-errant and Captain America; another as Abraham Lincoln.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2021
In Cervantes’s classic novel, a student tells the knight-errant Don Quixote, “The greater the fame of the writer, the more closely his books are scrutinized.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2019
Lots of shoes are practical, but only this one was worn by the cowboy: an American folk hero, a knight-errant figure with world-wide appeal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2018
After lecturing Sancho Panza upon the duty of a knight-errant in meditation upon his lady, he became irritated with the squire because he could not understand the reason for his amorous fury.
From Legends & Romances of Spain by Lewis Spence
A cynical filmmaker is drawn into a fantasy world inspired by Cervantes’ classic tale about a delusional Spanish knight errant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2019
It helps that he’s cast Jonathan Pryce as his Don Quixote—or rather, as a shoemaker named Javier, who came to believe he truly was the knight errant after starring in Toby’s film.
From Slate ● May 21, 2018
In Bruno he has given us a knight errant, a casually chivalrous wanderer in search of his place on earth.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2016
Bloomberg remains, in effect, a billionaire knight errant.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 13, 2015
He wants to brag about this encounter, like a knight errant bragging about his coolness as he unscrews the spike from the monster’s heart and breathes life back into the fiery nostrils.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Child usually compares Reacher to the knights-errant who wandered Europe in the Middle Ages, or the samurais of ancient Japan.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
"Your Highness" - The knights-errant - strong emphasize on the errant - behind this adventure comedy spend more time wallowing in medieval filth than weaving clever laughs and engaging action.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2011
The knights-errant - strong emphasis on the errant - behind the adventure comedy "Your Highness" spend more time wallowing in medieval filth than weaving clever laughs and engaging action.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2011
Rootless, quixotic, warped by an anti-childhood in Holocaust Europe, they traverse the American landscape like knights-errant on a futile search for purpose.
From Time Magazine Archive
This makes good what I have often said," answered Don Quixote; "most people will not be persuaded there ever were any knights-errant in the world.
From The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
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.
