city father

noun

|Updated on: 12 Jul 2018

Definition of city father

: a member (such as an alderman or councilman) of the governing body of a city

See city father defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of city father from the Web

The building, which occupies a prominent corner on LeJeune Road opposite City Hall, is the last surviving commercial structure from the original business district created by revered city father George Merrick.

— andres viglucci, miamiherald, "Famed for protecting historic buildings, this city wants to bulldoze one. For parking.," 29 June 2018
In all, around $500,000 was raised for needy islanders and Coppini was summoned to Galveston to show his artwork to the city fathers.

— craig hlavaty, Houston Chronicle, "The story behind a lost statue honoring victims of Galveston's deadly 1900 hurricane," 25 Apr. 2018
In fact, when the Richmond and Sunset districts were being developed from a waste of sand dunes, the city fathers wanted to name the avenues that ran west to the ocean after Spanish saints.

— carl nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, "SF custom of naming streets, landmarks has always been complicated," 20 Apr. 2018
The city fathers, however, soon threw caution to the wind.

— The Economist, "The bribe factoryLessons from China’s rust belt," 22 Feb. 2018
In the early stages, the city fathers were skeptical of 9-1-1 calls being answered at the police station.

— paul gattis, AL.com, "Piece of Alabama history to be displayed at Smithsonian museum," 16 Feb. 2018
While Europe was Balkanizing, the city fathers were amalgamating what become the five boroughs into Greater New York.

— sam roberts, New York Times, "Man of ‘Gotham’ Returns," 29 Sep. 2017
Lambert came out of retirement in the Great Depression at the request of the Boston city fathers to save the Gillette Safety Razor Company from bankruptcy.

— New York Times, "Letters to the Editor," 20 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'city father.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.