Word.ws English Dictionary

caudillo

/kɔˈdiː(j)oʊ/

caudillo noun: a leader.

Noun

caudillo (plural caudillos)

  1. A leader.
    • While an America in decline may throw up a more competent caudillo than Trump in time, it is difficult to reasonably conclude that it possesses the societal solidarity to wage a decades-long, global struggle against a near-competitor.2020 June 1, Aris Roussinos, Covid has exposed America as a failed state
  2. A military dictator, especially one ruling in Spain, Portugal or Latin America.
    • For, despite all the debunking and cynicism in this generation, there still are, amazingly, trusting people around who need to believe in great helmsmen, dear leaders, fuhrers, presidents-for-life, generalissimos and charismatic caudillos.1994 October 14, Dallas Morning News
    • Then there’s Mexico’s outgoing populist and wannabe caudillo, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is pushing a crowd-pleasing law to require all judges be elected by popular vote, including to the Supreme Court.2024 August 13, Marc Margolis, Opinion: Want to reform the Supreme Court? These strongmen can show a thing or two, NPR

Proper noun capitalized: Caudillo

Caudillo (plural Caudillos)

  1. A surname.

caudillo meaning in Indonesian

caudillo in Indonesian

military dictator in South America
caudillo

Forms of caudillo

Noun
pluralcaudillos
Proper noun
pluralCaudillos

Origin of caudillo

From Spanish caudillo, from Late Latin capitellum, based on Latin caput, capitis (“head”). Doublet of caddie, cadel, cadet, capital, and capitellum. More possible, from kaput and ili (iri, ür, uri: town), from Basque language. In Iberian ili is high point, high city.

Words formed from caudillo

Questions about caudillo

What does caudillo mean?
Caudillo means a leader.
What is caudillo in Indonesian?
Caudillo in Indonesian is caudillo. See Caudillo meaning in Indonesian.
What part of speech is caudillo?
Caudillo can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce caudillo?
Caudillo is pronounced /kɔˈdiː(j)oʊ/.
What is the plural of caudillo?
The plural of caudillo is caudillos.

Words near caudillo in the dictionary

  1. caudilies
  2. Caudill
  3. caudillism
  4. caudillismo
  5. caudillismos
  6. caudillo
  7. caudilloism
  8. caudillos
  9. caudilloship
  10. Caudills
  11. Caudine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caudillo (page history and authors); Caudillo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “caudillo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caudillo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.