elder statesman

plural elder statesmen

1. A prominent and respected elderly political leader.

   The former president has positioned himself as an impartial elder statesman above intraparty machinations and was neutral during the 2020 Democratic primaries.

   2024 July 22, Glenn Thrush, “Why Obama Hasn’t Endorsed Harris”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

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   Thus Ito, according to some interpreters of modern Japan, practically ceased to rank as an "elder statesman" when he consented to lead the political combination known as the Sei-yu-kai.

   1905 October 5, “A Review of the World”, in Current Literature, volume 39, number 4, page 364

   Mrs. Carghill. At bottom, I believe you're still the same silly Richard / You always were. You wanted to pose / As a man of the world. And now you're posing / As what? I presume, as an elder statesman; / And the difference between being an elder statesman / And posing successfully as an elder statesman / Is practically negligible. / And you look the part.

   1958, T. S. Eliot, The Elder Statesman

   Michael Foot was speaking affectionately when in 1979 he quipped that David Steel had apparently gone from 'rising hope to elder statesman' without any intervening period whatsoever.

   2012, David Torrance, David Steel: Rising Hope to Elder Stateman

   While Ulbricht technically remained in office as Chairman of the State Council, a position that ostensibly gave him a role as elder statesman, he was sidelined by Honecker with systematic ruthlessness.

   2023, Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949–1990, Random House, →ISBN, page 249

2. broadlyA prominent and respected person in a specified field who is elderly or who has been in the field for a long time.

   With the average age of the new production team under thirty, he found himself in the unenviable position of BBC Current Affairs elder statesman.

   2004, Mark Andresen, Field of Vision: The Broadcast Life of Kenneth Allsop, page 458

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   I would classify him in this field as an elder statesman and a very knowledgeable and brilliant scientist, and useful for consulting purposes, but he is not directly working on Project Vela.

   1962, United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Developments in the Field of Detection and Identification of Nuclear Explosions (Project Vela) and Relationship to Test Ban Negotiations, page 9

   The 'loss of a sense of self-identity, delusions of self-identity and experiences of "alien control"', observed an elder statesman in the field of microbiome research, are all potential symptoms of mental illness.

   2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 19