Word.ws English Dictionary

matador

Syllables: mat·a·dor/ˈma.tə.dɔː/US/ˈmæ.tə.dɔɹ/

matador noun: the person whose aim is to kill the bull in a bullfight.

matador: the person whose aim is to kill the bull in a bullfight
Image: Eugeniowhiskas, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

matador (plural matadors or matadores)

  1. The person whose aim is to kill the bull in a bullfight.
    • […] few of these boys know how to fight alone, and hardly any without a knife or a gun. They are not to be equated with matadors or boxers or Hemingway heroes. They are dangerous pack hounds who will not even expose themselves singly in the outfield.1962, Arthur Miller, “The Bored and the Violent”, in Herbert Gold, editor, First Person Singular: Essays for the Sixties, New York: Dial, published 1963, page 181
    • The second is La Macarena, named after an Arabian princess, and she was preferred by another great matador, Joselito, and to see her leave her parish church of San Gil at one in the morning of Good Friday or return later in the day is held by many Sevillanos to be the most important thing that can...1968, James A. Michener, “Sevilla”, in Iberia, New York, NY: Dial Press, published 2015, →ISBN, page 317
  2. (uncountable) A certain game of dominoes in which four dominoes (the 4-3, 5-2, 6-1, and double blank), called matadors, may be played at any time in any way.
  3. The jack of clubs, or any other trump held in sequence with it, in the game of skat.
  4. One of the three chief cards in ombre and quadrille.

Proper noun capitalized: Matador

Matador

  1. A town, the county seat of Motley County, Texas, United States.

matador meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Persian

matador in Tamil

ஆட்டங்களில் முதன்மையான சீட்டு

matador in Bengali

ষাঁড়ের লড়াইয়ের প্রধান যোদ্ধা

matador in Persian

bullfighter
ماتادور mâtâdor

Forms of matador

pluralmatadors
pluralmatadores
alternative form (archaic)matadore

Plural of matador: matadors or matadores

Origin of matador

Borrowed from Spanish matador (“killer”). Used in the English language as title for a bullfighter, however referred to as a torero in Spain.

Named after the Matador Ranch.

Words formed from matador

Questions about matador

What does matador mean?
Matador means the person whose aim is to kill the bull in a bullfight.
What is matador in Tamil?
Matador in Tamil is ஆட்டங்களில் முதன்மையான சீட்டு. See Matador meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is matador?
Matador can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce matador?
Matador is pronounced /ˈma.tə.dɔː/ (UK).
What is the plural of matador?
The plural of matador is matadors.

Words near matador in the dictionary

  1. Matacoan
  2. Matacos
  3. matadero
  4. mataderos
  5. Matadi
  6. matador
  7. matadora
  8. matadoras
  9. matadore
  10. matadores
  11. matadoress

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matador (page history and authors); Matador (page history and authors); matador (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); matador (Bengali Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-matador.wav.

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