matador

American  

[mat-uh-dawr] / ˈmæt əˌdɔr /

noun

• matadors
  plural

1. the principal bullfighter in a bullfight who passes the bull with a muleta and then, in many countries, kills it with a sword thrust; a torero.

2. one of the principal cards in skat and certain other games.

3. (initial capital letter) a jet-powered U.S. surface-to-surface missile.

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matador British  

/ ˈmætədɔː /

noun

1. the principal bullfighter who is appointed to kill the bull

2. (in some card games such as skat) one of the highest ranking cards

3. a game played with dominoes in which the dots on adjacent halves must total seven

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• matadors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of matador

1665–75; < Spanish, equivalent to mata ( r ) to kill (perhaps < Vulgar Latin *mattāre, presumed derivative of Late Latin mattus soft, weak; cf. matte ¹) +- dor -tor

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Compare meaning

How does matador compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• toreador vs. matador

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

matador matadors

His name is Mikel Merino, and he’s fast turning into Spain’s World Cup matador.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

This relentless bull market may finally have found its matador.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

Their enthralling matador and bull program set to “Paint it Black” eclipsed the season’s best they earned two days prior during the team event, but it wasn’t enough to earn elusive individual Olympic gold.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026

The ghost of young matador Pedro Romero, the quiet center of Jake’s storm, waits on the bullring sand.

From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025

He stood there, balancing on the heels of his feet, like a matador.

From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz

On its face, “Sterling Karat Gold” is the story of Sterling, a nonbinary performance artist who is assaulted by matadors on the streets of London and then accosted by a time traveler from the future.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 7, 2023

A crowd has gathered to cheer the bullfighters, but when a particularly famous one passes by, a man heckles him, barking that he’s nothing compared with the matadors that the city of Córdoba has produced.

From New York Times ● May 3, 2022

Wearing mandatory face masks and sitting in fumigated seats separated by stickers, fans watched matadors take on seven bulls in a charity contest to raise money for jobless bullfighters and other workers in the sector.

From Reuters ● May 2, 2021

Wagon-wheel chandelier, cereal boxes, dirty dishes, green shag carpet, orange vinyl couch patched with duct tape, two sad-looking boys dressed as matadors staring from a painting on the wall.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2018

Marcial straightened up and dropped his cigarette, and, looking straight ahead, their heads back, their free arms swinging, the three matadors walked out.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

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