robber baron

American  

noun

1. History/Historical. a noble who robbed travelers passing through his lands.

2. a ruthlessly powerful U.S. capitalist or industrialist of the late 19th century considered to have become wealthy by exploiting natural resources, corrupting legislators, or other unethical means.

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Etymology

Origin of robber baron

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Government and private money are flowing in quantities that would make a Gilded Age robber baron blush.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 23, 2025

Robert A. Iger, who leads Disney, publicly pushed back against the striking workers, and found himself jeered on picket lines as a robber baron.

From New York Times • Aug. 27, 2023

Describing it, he invoked the mustachioed robber baron: “It was made in the first decade of this century for J.P. Morgan.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2021

Gates became interested in immunizations in the late 1990s, when Microsoft was facing an antitrust case that cast him as a modern-day robber baron.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 23, 2020

What strikes me from her account is the robber baron period after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the hurt that still exists.

From Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy by Colignatus, Thomas