father figure

• father-figure

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father figure (plural father figures)

1. One who represents, behaves as, or is regarded as equivalent to a father for another person or group of people.

   Coordinate term: mother figure

   • 1999 December 13, Ian Traynor, “Obituary: Franjo Tudjman”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 8 July 2014:

     Tudjman, the national father-figure, emerged as the improbable and unexpected victor of the wars of the Yugoslav succession of 1991-99.

   • 2008 July 21, Jonathan Mahler, “Hamdan: Guantánamo's Mystery Man”, in Time, retrieved 8 July 2014:

     Orphaned at a young age, he found a father figure in the confident and committed al-Bahri.

• authority figure
• role model

• “father figure” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “father figure”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “father figure”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.