strongman
/stɹˈɔŋmˌæn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.88 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A man who performs feats of strength, as in competitions or as an attraction in a circus.
Example Sentences
- "Giovanni Battista Belzoni, the famous Egyptian archeologist, who was a man of gigantic stature, began his public career as a strongman at the Bartholomew Fair, under the management of Gyngell, the conjuror, who dubbed him The Young Hercules."
- "Opposite him was the Fat Lady, red-faced and laughing. Beside her, the India-rubber Man wound spaghetti on to a fork with an expression of deepest melancholy. Further down the table, the Strong Man, an overcoat covering his leopard-skin, talked garrulously."
- "Early strongmen like Eugen Sandow (the model for the Mr. Olympia trophy) and late-1800s "Iron-Master" Arthur Saxon (who wrote the book on one-hand overhead moves) kicked off the first movement of guys pumping iron."
- "Kazakhstan’s explosion into unrest this week presents a stark warning to the strongman autocrats of the world: Leaving office is perilous. Since the Cold War’s end, a staggering 70 percent of governments headed by strongmen collapsed after the ruler departed, according to one data set."
Etymology
Etymology tree English strong Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Middle English man Middle English -man English -man English strongman From strong + -man.