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

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

It had this governor named Bob LaFollette, who was nicknamed “Fighting Bob,” and he would crusade against the influence of the robber barons and the stranglehold of money in politics.

From Slate • Sep. 21, 2023

Like Mrs. Parish, who freshened up the Kennedy White House, and Mr. Hampton, who elevated the habitats of 1980s-era robber barons, Ms. Rheinstein brought an American freshness to English country style.

From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2023

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

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand