If you describe a leader of a country or organization as a warlord, you are critical of them because they have achieved power by behaving in an aggressive and violent way.
[disapproval]
He had been a dictator and a warlord who had oppressed and degraded the people ofthe South.
He was the most feared warlord during the Liberian civil war.
Synonyms: military leader, general More Synonyms of warlord
warlord in British English
(ˈwɔːˌlɔːd)
noun
a military leader of a nation or part of a nation, esp one who is accountable to nobody when the central government is weak
medieval warlords
warlord in American English
(ˈwɔrˌlɔrd)
noun
1.
a high military officer in a warlike nation
2.
an aggressive tyrant
3.
a local ruler or bandit leader, as formerly in China, with some sort of military following in a district where the established government is weak
Derived forms
warlordism (ˈwarˌlordˌism)
noun
Examples of 'warlord' in a sentence
warlord
Drug warlords smuggled out opium with impunity.
The Sun (2008)
He is one of the most notorious warlords in the country.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Local warlords refused the offer and the turbine was delivered without loss of life by a brilliant secret manoeuvre through the desert.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But what connects this nefarious plan to an African warlord?
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
In the next two years, competing warlords ravaged the country.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
In other languages
warlord
British English: warlord NOUN
If you describe a leader of a country or organization as a warlord, you are critical of them because they have achieved power by behaving in an aggressive and violent way.
He had been a dictator and a warlord.
American English: warlord
Brazilian Portuguese: caudilho
Chinese: 军阀
European Spanish: caudillo
French: seigneur de la guerreN
German: Kriegsherr
Italian: signore della guerra
Japanese: 軍事指導者
Korean: 군 지도자
European Portuguese: caudilho
Latin American Spanish: caudillo
(noun)
Definition
a military leader of a nation or part of a nation
a dictator and warlord who had oppressed his people