Manchurian candidate

noun

A person of influence, especially a politician, who is being manipulated by an enemy power to harm the interests of their own country, possibly without their own full awareness.

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Meanings

nounManchurian candidate (plural Manchurian candidates)

plural Manchurian candidates

  1. A person of influence, especially a politician, who is being manipulated by an enemy power to harm the interests of their own country, possibly without their own full awareness.

    Most of the conspiracies covered in this book are different. […

    2009, Arthur Goldwag, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies, Vintage Books, →ISBN, pages 108–109
    2 more examples

    Get outta my head 'cause I don't need this! Why didn't I see this? I'm a victim Manchurian Candidate I have sinned by just Making my mind up and taking your breath away

    1997, Joey Jordison, Corey Taylor, “Wait and Bleed”, in Slipknot (nu metal, alternative metal, rap metal), performed by Slipknot, United States

    The attacks, mainly anonymous e-mails, have woven together various threads […] —to portray Obama as the Muslim Manchurian candidate.

    2008 February 11, Roger Cohen, “No Manchurian Candidate”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Origin

From the title of the 1959 novel or 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate, in which the son of a prominent US political family is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for a communist conspiracy. First known generic use in 1970.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Manchurian candidate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Manchurian%20candidate

MLA

“Manchurian candidate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Manchurian%20candidate. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Manchurian candidate,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Manchurian%20candidate.

Source: Manchurian candidate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.