father of the nation
Country's founding figure
A father of the nation is a man widely credited with founding or liberating a country, often the leader of an independence movement: George Washington is considered the father of the nation.
The title carries reverence and suggests the country owes its existence to this figure.
Most nations have one, though the designation may be contested or shared.
- liberatorOne who frees others
- freedom fighterArmed rebel against tyranny
- founderOne who begins something
- founding mythNarrative explaining how something began
- forefatherAncestor from generations past
patriarch · George Washington · statesman · Nelson Mandela · Simon Bolivar · Sun Yat-sen · Mahatma Gandhi · leader · hero · visionary · icon · sovereignty · self-determination · revolutionary hero · independence · progenitor · mentor · anti-colonialism
father of the nationenemy of the people
Alleged societal threat
quisling · balkanizer · puppet ruler · collaborator · tyrant
father, fathers, fatherly, fatherhood, paternal, paternity, patrician, nation, nations