robber barons

Cultural  

1. A term applied to certain leading American businessmen of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller. The term suggests that they acquired their wealth by means more often foul than fair.

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Example Sentences

She also analyzed just how rich the robber barons of "The Gilded Age" are.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

Ours is a history in which New York robber barons used the promise of belonging to splinter the poor into factions and manipulate them into fighting among themselves during the Gilded Age.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 24, 2026

This was the age of robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, whose Standard Oil was a business “trust” comprising dozens of companies in numerous vertically linked industries.

From Barron's • Jan. 13, 2026

"The American people stood up to the robber barons back then," he said.

From Salon • Jan. 16, 2025

The girls ran the place themselves, and they did so with the cunning of robber barons.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand