Word.ws English Dictionary

The Nodfather

The Nodfather proper noun: nickname for John Franzese (1917–2020), Italian-American mobster.

Proper noun

The Nodfather

  1. (derogatory, humorous) Nickname for John Franzese (1917–2020), Italian-American mobster.
    • Franzese, dubbed The Nodfather for snoozing during the three-week racketeering trial, was wide awake when a jury convicted him yesterday of racketeering2010 July 8, John Marzulli, “Colombo mob underboss John Franzese convicted of shaking down Hustler and Penthouse strip joints”, in NY Daily News (Usenet)
  2. (US, derogatory, humorous) Nickname for Q22686 (born 1946), President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025).
    Synonyms:
    DJT, The Donald, Trump, Cheeto, Dementia Don, Diaper Don, Dirty Donald, Donald Duck, Donald Trumpet, Don Snoreleone

Synonyms of The Nodfather

20 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Origin of The Nodfather

From godfather (“a mafia leader”), in reference to the 1969 novel The Godfather and its adaptations + nod off (“to fall asleep, especially unintentionally”), in reference to the subjects doing so during their criminal proceedings. Coined November 2010 during testimony phase of United States of America v. Curanovic (Capatano) (case no. 10-4883), saw resurgence in 2025.

Questions about The Nodfather

What does The Nodfather mean?
The Nodfather means nickname for John Franzese (1917–2020), Italian-American mobster.
What part of speech is The Nodfather?
The Nodfather is a proper noun.

Words near The Nodfather in the dictionary

  1. the new black
  2. the next best thing
  3. the next day
  4. the night before last
  5. the night is young
  6. The Nodfather
  7. The North of Ireland
  8. the nose knows
  9. the nut does not fall far from the tree
  10. The Oaks
  11. the odds are good, but the goods are odd

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: The Nodfather (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: “The Nodfather.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/the_nodfather. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.