Word.ws English Dictionary

Dear Leader

Dear Leader proper noun: a title adopted by Kim Jong Il, the supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011.

Proper noun

Dear Leader

  1. A title adopted by Kim Jong Il, the supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011.
    • Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s so-called Dear Leader, did not survive the year that opened with the Arab Spring.2011 December 18, Evan Osnos, “Kim Jong-il is Dead”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2021
    • North Korea has long been known for its love of titles for its leaders. Mr. Kim's grandfather, the nation's founder, was known as the Great Leader; his son, the Dear Leader. The country seems not yet to have decided on the same kind of moniker for Mr. Kim — settling for workaday titles like marshal...2013 October 25, Choe Sang-Hun, “Following Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un Gets Title From University: Dr. Leader”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived...
  2. (US, broadly, derogatory) Nickname for Q22686 (born 1946), President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025), seen as engendering unthinking subservience among his followers.
    • But patriotism means standing up for your country's values, not pledging personal allegiance to Dear Leader.2017 January 16, Paul Krugman, “With All Due Disrespect”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2023
    • Even as Trump commands a dwindling number of Republicans willing to say the election remains unsettled, his administration is stuck trying to carry out Dear Leader's wishes.2020 November 14, Terry H. Schwadron, “Trump gums up the transition works”, in Salon.com, archived from the original on 05 May 2023
    Synonyms:
    DJT, The Donald, Trump, Cheeto, Dementia Don, Diaper Don, Dirty Donald, Donald Duck, Donald Trumpet, Don Snoreleone

Noun

Dear Leader (plural Dear Leaders)

  1. (derogatory) An authoritarian leader who demands unquestioning loyalty.
    • These people, then, are Jezza's bezzas - his praetorian guard, if you like. And - surely rather alarmingly if you are one of those Labour MPs who isn't content to hold your tongue - they seem open to using the prospect of deselection to ensure that there is a price to pay for badmouthing the dear...2016 June 28, Tim Bale, “Jezza's Bezzas: Labour's New Members”, in The Huffington Post, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2023
    • Like Trump, Trudeau is less a leader than a mascot. Like Trump's following, Trudeau's following sometimes comes off like a Dear Leader cult. Like Trump, Trudeau routinely elicits in his political enemies an hysterical incoherence. As with Trump, it is not known whether Trudeau has ever met a...2016 November 23, Terry Glavin, “Terry Glavin: Trump and Trudeau, two entitled one-percenters who might get along much better than you think”, in National Post, Toronto, Ont.: Postmedia Network...

Examples of Dear Leader in a sentence

  • Kim's grandfather, the nation's founder, was known as the Great Leader; his son, the Dear Leader.2013 October 25, Choe Sang-Hun, “Following Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un Gets Title From University: Dr. Leader”, in The New York Times, New...
  • Fealty to "Dear Leader" remains a tribal litmus test.2022 July 22, Lloyd Green, “Trump, modern Nero, watched the Capitol sacked from a White House dining room”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The...
  • Like Trump's following, Trudeau's following sometimes comes off like a Dear Leader cult.2016 November 23, Terry Glavin, “Terry Glavin: Trump and Trudeau, two entitled one-percenters who might get along much better than you...
  • On Sunday, Brady said, Twitter temporarily suspended her account, to which she commented: "Seems one must never make fun of the Dear Leader."2021 July 7, Mark Moore, “Twitter suspends professor over posts mocking China's Xi Jinping”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp...

Synonyms of Dear Leader

21 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of Dear Leader

Proper noun
alternative formdear leader
Noun
pluralDear Leaders

Origin of Dear Leader

Calque of Korean 친애하는 지도자 (chinaehaneun jidoja, “dear leader”).

Questions about Dear Leader

What does Dear Leader mean?
Dear Leader means a title adopted by Kim Jong Il, the supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011.
How do you use Dear Leader in a sentence?
Kim's grandfather, the nation's founder, was known as the Great Leader; his son, the Dear Leader.
What part of speech is Dear Leader?
Dear Leader can be a proper noun or a noun.

Words near Dear Leader in the dictionary

  1. Dear John
  2. Dear John letter
  3. Dear John letters
  4. Dear Johns
  5. Dear Joy
  6. Dear Leader
  7. Dear Leaders
  8. dear Lord
  9. dear me
  10. dear Sir
  11. dear Sir or Madam

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Dear Leader (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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