How to Use strongman in a Sentence

strongman

noun
Definition of strongmannext
Synonyms for strongmannext
  • Too often, tyrants believe in the myth of the strongman.
    — Daniel Twining, WSJ, 6 May 2022
  • And, of course, the strongman isn’t one to play a supporting role.
    — William Pesek, Forbes, 2 Sep. 2021
  • The strength of a civic government was no match for a strongman.
    — Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2023
  • Last but not least among the tools of the strongman is corruption.
    — Federico Finchelstein, The New Republic, 3 Nov. 2020
  • In the 2000s, the rise of a strongman — Putin — in the Kremlin was seen in pragmatic terms in Austria.
    — Souad Mekhennet, Washington Post, 5 July 2022
  • The two laugh and shake hands after the Icelandic strongman sets him back on his feet.
    — Ashley Boucher, PEOPLE.com, 13 Aug. 2019
  • Hifter, the strongman of the east Libya government, based in Benghazi.
    — Samy Magdy, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Sep. 2023
  • Both were sent to the strongman’s religious court and sentenced to death.
    — Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2021
  • It’s a father figure, a strongman figure that attracts all of the orphan souls of the world.
    — John Benson, cleveland, 10 Dec. 2022
  • In Cambodia, Hun Sen, the strongman, has ruled since 1985.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 17 Dec. 2020
  • Both have ties to strongmen and a taste for tariffs and fossil fuels.
    — Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2024
  • The half-mortal strongman must become a hero to rejoin the gods on Mount Olympus.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2019
  • The strongman praised the martial law era and in some ways emulated it with his bloody six-year war on drugs.
    — Michael E. Miller and Regine Cabato, Anchorage Daily News, 20 June 2022
  • An alarming number of Iraqis would prefer to have a strongman in charge.
    — The Economist, 10 May 2018
  • The general can either go along with them, or go the way of other strongmen.
    — The Economist, 29 Aug. 2019
  • More Republicans are adopting the kind of strongman rhetoric that seemed to play so well for Trump.
    — Marc Fisher, Washington Post, 16 Oct. 2022
  • Many in the Philippines and Indonesia, for better or for worse, love a strongman.
    — The Economist, 29 Aug. 2020
  • But the pandemic has also scrambled the plans of those same strongmen.
    — Declan Walsh, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2020
  • From Russia to the Philippines to Saudi Arabia, strongmen seem to be calling the shots.
    — The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2019
  • Venezuela’s strongman Nicolás Maduro uses the lingo of the American Left, which begins to sound like him.
    — Mike Gonzalez, National Review, 18 June 2022
  • Molly — with her big eyes and modest dreams — and the way Ron Perlman’s strongman Bruno protects her.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 2 Dec. 2021
  • Some of the worst massacres in modern history have followed the ouster of strongmen.
    — James Stavridis, Time, 12 July 2018
  • This strongman rhetoric hides the fact that the whole declaration was a performance.
    — CNN, 25 Aug. 2022
  • City staff had to keep all this a secret since January, when the film crew and four strongmen came to the city for several days.
    — Kim Hyatt, Twin Cities, 3 July 2019
  • But against all odds, the iconic yacht that once belonged to the late Yugoslav strongman Josip Broz Tito has been given a new lease on life.
    — Washington Post, 23 May 2018
  • But the current strongman, General Sisi, has pushed the country down to a new level.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 17 Dec. 2020
  • In a 2008 election, Mohamed Nasheed toppled the longtime strongman ruler of the Maldives.
    — Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 1 Sep. 2021
  • Dephree,’’ did various dances and the strongman pose as traffic backed up for miles on State Route 110.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 27 June 2018
  • The fourth-line strongman staggered off the ice in garbage time after eating an Emil Lilleberg cross-check with 2.5 seconds remaining in regulation.
    — Fluto Shinzawa, The Athletic, 9 Jan. 2025
  • Posing as a strongman at home turns out to be different from actually being strong overseas.
    — Daniel Block, The Atlantic, 30 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'strongman.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: