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View definitions for figurehead

figurehead

noun as in person who is leader in name only

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Example Sentences

If presidents are often thought of as figureheads for a political party, video game presidents are stand-ins for many different functions.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose fears of change include a dystopian Starbucks-drinking future, is the chief figurehead of the Say Anything style.

From Ozy

He quickly realized he was more of a figurehead, he said, than someone who had significant control over the chain.

Not only is the highly esteemed Berners-Lee the figurehead for Inrupt, but the company also has cybersecurity guru Bruce Schneier as its chief of security architecture.

From Fortune

It’s not even so much policy-based, I just think politics has become so much of a machine — and I like having the feeling that one person can ultimately make the decision, that he is not just the figurehead and the machine is running everything.

From Ozy

How will we know if Kim, when he eventually surfaces, is ruler or figurehead?

Waters herself is a gay figurehead, but again she shrinks from any compliments.

Less than 12 hours later, they lost their inspirational figurehead.

He may be a figurehead, but the president who is elected today is worth keeping an eye on for signs of where Pakistan is going.

Indeed, Medvedev was never really more than a figurehead president, despite the theoretically huge powers attached to the job.

The statues here, and the lions before the Prince of Orange's palace, would disgrace almost the figurehead of a ship.

Without power or privileges, she was a mere figurehead—a good mother looking after her family.

The Speaking Oak then bade him cut off one of its great limbs, and carve from it a figurehead for his ship.

Would people really prefer a figurehead and a symbol of undisputed authority?

Walking steadily, but with a face set as the figurehead on one of his own ships, the captain went to answer the knock.

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On this page you'll find 13 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to figurehead, such as: cipher, nonentity, puppet, front, mouthpiece, and nothing.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

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