Idiom
faceless man
Meaning
Someone who is not elected to political office, but exerts power over political affairs from behind the scenes.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The faceless man makes all the real decisions in this city.”
“Everyone knows the minister is just a puppet for that faceless man who controls the party funds.”
“While the public focused on the elected officials, the true policy shifts were orchestrated by a faceless man operating from the shadows of the private sector.”
Examples
simple
“The faceless man makes all the real decisions in this city.”
contextual
“Everyone knows the minister is just a puppet for that faceless man who controls the party funds.”
complex
“While the public focused on the elected officials, the true policy shifts were orchestrated by a faceless man operating from the shadows of the private sector.”
Origin
Coined by Australian journalist Alan Reid in 1963 in The Daily Telegraph.
Key words
Related idioms
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