tip of the spear

noun

The foremost person or group; those on the front lines.

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Meanings

noun
  1. The foremost person or group; those on the front lines.

    Bannon called Argentina “the tip of the tip of the spear of the fight for the Judeo-Christian west”.

    2024 December 10, Tom Phillips, Facundo Iglesia, quoting Steve Bannon, “Maga on the River Plate as global populist right descends on Argentina”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  2. The leading position of someone in a difficult situation.

    In this and similar theorizing of criminal-justice reform, Simonson draws the focus of reform advocates to the tip of the spear—police administration.

    2021, Trevor George Gardner, “By Any Means: A Philosophical Frame for Rulemaking Reform in Criminal Law”, in Yale Law Journal Forum, page 803
Cite this entry
APA

tip of the spear. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tip%20of%20the%20spear

MLA

“tip of the spear.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tip%20of%20the%20spear. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tip of the spear,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tip%20of%20the%20spear.

Source: tip of the spear on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.