caudillo

noun

cau·​di·​llo kau̇-ˈt͟hē-(ˌ)yō  -ˈt͟hēl-(ˌ)yō 

plural caudillos

: a Spanish or Latin American military dictator

Examples of caudillo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

No one in Washington should be more versed in this terrible history than Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the child of Cubans who fled the island when it was ruled by the U.S.-backed caudillo Fulgencio Batista. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan. 2026

Maduro’s arrest is being compared to the 1989 invasion of Panama and rendition of its caudillo, Manuel Noriega, to Miami to be convicted of drug trafficking and other crimes. —Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 3 Jan. 2026

What does surprise him, though, is that Cubans fled a ‘caudillo,’ or strongman, and now seem to defend similar behavior from the Trump administration. —Whitney Eulich, Christian Science Monitor, 17 Dec. 2025

Hatuey, the Taíno chief who fought the Spanish conquistadores and is known as the Americas’ earliest revolutionary, was a caudillo. —Abraham Jiménez Enoa, The Dial, 9 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Spanish, "leader, chief" (medieval Spanish cabdiello), going back to Vulgar Latin *capitellus "leader" — more at cadet

First Known Use

1852, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for caudillo

• armadillo
• billow
• pillow