toreador
Americannoun
-
toreadors
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of toreador
1610–20; < Spanish, equivalent to torea ( r ) to bait a bull (derivative of toro bull < Latin taurus ) + -dor -tor
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Zambello has cast him as the toreador Escamillo in WNO’s production of Bizet’s “Carmen” set for this spring.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2021
Came a jet-beaded toreador bolero atop a leather milkmaid corset and motocross pants.
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2020
Reveries were interrupted when the defending champion, Bob Goalby, held out a green jacket like a toreador extending a cape.
From Golf Digest ● Apr. 1, 2019
In an era of, say, updated “Carmen” productions, the toreador might actually be a barber dressed for the disco.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2018
Beautiful men in toreador outfits joined their ladies.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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On view were hastily brushed, large canvases of musketeers, toreadors, atelier scenes and cavorting couples.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
His grandfather was an amateur bullfighter, and the local toreadors used to come by the house to get ready for corridas.
From New York Times ● Oct. 9, 2018
Instead, the toreadors are waving variously coloured silk scarves and prancing around as if the ground is too hot to stand on.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2013
Gypsies from the hills, Gitano dancers, wild wandering singers, toreadors.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Sometimes he got a piece of them, but most of the time they just sidestepped him like toreadors or pushed him away as though he was a bothersome younger cousin.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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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.