frontrunner

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English

Etymology

From front +‎ runner.

Noun

frontrunner (plural frontrunners)

  1. Alternative form of front runner
    • 2015 December 22, Justin Wm. Moyer, “Donald Trump’s ‘schlonged’: A linguistic investigation”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 2015-12-24:
      “Republican frontrunner Donald Trump used a campaign stop in Michigan on Monday to make astonishingly sexist attacks against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton,” the left-leaning ThinkProgress wrote.
    • 2022 August 6, Geneva Abdul, “Liz Truss rejects ‘handouts’ as way to tackle cost of living crisis”, in The Guardian:
      The Conservative leadership frontrunner, Liz Truss, has rejected “handouts” as a way of helping people affected by the cost of living crisis.
    • 2025 April 21, Sam Clancy, Andrew Weil, “Former St. Louis archbishop Burke among 'popeable' candidates after Francis' death”, in KSDK:
      In 2020, Edward Pentin, the senior Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Register, released a book on the topic, titled "The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates." In the book, Pentin listed 19 cardinals he considered to be papabile, or "popeable" frontrunners.
    • 2025 May 8, Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood, “White smoke from Sistine Chapel chimney signals election of new pope”, in The Guardian:
      But as the old papal election saying goes: “He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal”, because few of those who are frontrunners at the start make it through the successive rounds of voting.