praetorian

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.

“It’s an army within an army, the regime’s praetorian guard,” he said.

From New York Times

"We are truly living in a situation where the FBI has become a praetorian guard from Rome where they take it unto themselves to decide who wields power in this country," Miller said.

From Salon

First, he meets his Cabinet this morning, his praetorian guard, who fanned on Monday fanned out to every patch of grass in Westminster to try to prop him up.

From BBC

Among deeds weighing heavily on Butler in his later years was how he helped create domestic praetorian “guardias nacionales” in countries including Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic later used by ruthless strongmen as shock troops.

From Seattle Times

The curious feature of this entire debate is that it is largely a praetorian squabble about who has the right to attend the nation’s most elite colleges and to join the nation’s elite.

From New York Times