front-runner

noun

a person who leads in any competition.

an entrant in a race who breaks to the front immediately and establishes the pace for the field.

an entrant in a race who performs well only when ahead of the field.

Also, front-run·ner, front·run·ner.

Origin:
1935–40, Americanism

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To front-runner

Slang Dictionary

front runner definition

n.
the leader; the person or thing most likely to win. : The press found out some juicy secrets about the front runner and made them all public.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Relevant Questions

What Is A Front Runner?

00:10

Front-runner is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Matching Quote

"Still, I'm much happier here, really in it than I've been for an age. People don't hate much at the front; there's no one to hate, except the poor devils across the way, whom they [the French soldiers] know to be as miserable as themselves. They don't talk hypocritical bosh about the beauty & manliness of war: they feel in their souls that if they weren't cowards they would have ended the thing long ago—by going home, where they want to be. And lastly and best, they don't jabber about atrocities—of course, everyone commits them—though about one story in a million that reaches our blessed Benighted States is true."

-John Dos Passos

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