caudillo

[ kaw-deel-yoh, -dee-oh; Spanish kou-thee-lyaw, -thee-yaw ]

noun

, plural cau·dil·los [kaw-, deel, -yohz, -, dee, -ohz, kaw-, thee, -lyaws, -, thee, -yaws].

1. (in Spanish-speaking countries) a head of state, especially a military dictator.

caudillo

/ kɔːˈdiːljəʊ; kauˈðiʎo /

noun

1. (in Spanish-speaking countries) a military or political leader

Word History and Origins

Origin of caudillo¹

1850–55; < Spanish < Late Latin capitellum, equivalent to Latin capit- (stem of caput ) head + -ellum diminutive suffix; -elle

Word History and Origins

Origin of caudillo¹

Spanish, from Late Latin capitellum, diminutive of Latin caput head

Example Sentences

Former President Trump does appeal to some Latino men especially, because in Latin America we do have that caudillo image or caudillo figure of a strong man in government.

From Los Angeles Times

“I do not aspire to be a ‘moral leader,’ a ‘maximum boss,’ a ‘caudillo,’” he said Monday.

From Seattle Times

He presented himself as something different: a modern, forward-looking leader who used Instagram and thought like a tech-disrupter even as he embraced the power-grabbing tactics of Latin American caudillos before him.

From Los Angeles Times

The Latin American novelist and the caudillo will always be mortal enemies, each one attempting to invent or dream into being a future that excludes or suppresses the other.

From New York Times

But Trump, like an American caudillo, treated the military as a political constituency.

From New York Times