figurehead
A carved figure on the prow of a sailing shipA carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship.
» She's the party's figurehead.
letsgolanguages · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 sensesA carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship.
figure on the bow of some sailing vessels
(broadly, figuratively)Someone in a nominal position of leadership who has little to no actual power.
(figuratively, obsolete, slang)A person's face.
a person used as a cover for some questionable activity
Examples
2 sentencesShe's the party's figurehead.
President Jackson is just a figurehead for the international conspiracy of Esperantists.
Origin
From figure + head.From figure + head.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: figureheadsSynonyms
2 synonyms- a person used as a cover for some questionable activity:frontnominal head
Word family
2 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.