man on horseback
Americannoun
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a military leader who presents himself as the savior of the country during a period of crisis and either assumes or threatens to assume dictatorial powers.
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any dictator.
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.
Advocates have also come across images of yellow and black coasters showing a man on horseback with his reins in the air, chasing a family of three.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 14, 2022
During his second term as president, Jefferson was said to have run into a man on horseback near Monticello who proceeded to engage him in a lengthy complaint of everything wrong in Washington.
From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2022
“That’s why Nietzsche said if you want to be a man on horseback, forget history, because it’ll stifle you—you’ll get full of doubts.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2018
The placard features the silhouette of a man on horseback, his sturdy hat nearly grazing a bough draped in Spanish moss.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2015
Great siege engines lined the grassy verge of the roseroad, mangonels and trebu- chets and rolling rams mounted on wheels taller than a man on horseback.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
