First recorded in 1920–25
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There he met Peter Thiel, the self-styled philosopher king of the right-wing tech community.
From Barron's • Dec. 24, 2025
He has achieved a mythic status in athletics, the fastest philosopher king in the history of the world.
From New York Times • Nov. 5, 2021
He’s a gentle philosopher king and a spiritual seeker who wants to leave a “service legacy on the Earth,” he said.
From Washington Post • Sep. 27, 2021
Influenced by libertarian Ayn Rand and Tolkien's fantasy trilogy, Thiel, then in his early 30s, carried himself like a contrarian philosopher king.
From Salon • Jun. 25, 2021
A philosopher king is above all such considerations.
From The Queen's Necklace by Dumas père, Alexandre
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.
