Definition of "standard-bearer" [standard-bearer]

• One who carries a standard or banner, especially of a military unit. (noun)
• An outstanding leader or representative of a movement, organization, or political party. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The French novelist and bad-boy standard-bearer of political incorrectness Michel Houellebecq is no stranger to artistic self-promotion."
• "In 1964, Republicans had to choose between Mr. Goldwater, standard-bearer for the party's hard-core conservative base, or a handful of more moderates such as Henry Cabot Lodge, William Scranton and Nelson Rockefeller."
• "But France is probably not a great standard-bearer, unless you think their sins since Louis XIV (or for that matter Philippe Le Bel) have been somehow purged by a decade or two of government by limp-wristed Socialists."