dark horse

dark horse

noun

Definition of DARK HORSE

1

a : a usually little known contender (as a racehorse) that makes an unexpectedly good showing

b : an entrant in a contest that is judged unlikely to succeed

2

: a political candidate unexpectedly nominated usually as a compromise between factions

Examples of DARK HORSE

1. The Democrat from Utah has gone from being a dark horse to the front-runner in the campaign for President.
2. The movie is a dark horse for the award.
3. He is a dark horse, but I did find out that he once played football professionally.

First Known Use of DARK HORSE

1831

Rhymes with DARK HORSE

clotheshorse, concourse, crash course, dawn horse, dead horse, deforce, discourse, divorce, dray horse, endorse, enforce, extrorse, golf course, gut course, high horse, introrse, iron horse, midcourse, of course, Old Norse, one-horse, packhorse, perforce, post-horse, racecourse, racehorse, recourse, redhorse, remorse, resource, retrorse, sawhorse, sea horse, stringcourse, trial horse, unhorse, warhorse, wheelhorse, Whitehorse, workhorse