- an unexpected winner in a horse race, thought beforehand to have very little chance
- an almost unknown contestant regarded by few as a likely winner
- Politics a person who gets or may get the nomination unexpectedly, often by a compromise
dark horse
dark horseWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"dark horse." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/dark-horse>.
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dark horse. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/dark-horse
dark horse
noun
- One who achieves unexpected support and success as a political candidate, typically during a party's convention.
- A little-known, unexpectedly successful entrant, as in a horserace.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"dark horse." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/dark-horse>.
APA Style
dark horse. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/dark-horse
Noun
(plural dark horses)
Origin
Originally an allusion to an unknown horse winning a race, as used in an 1831 novel The Young Duke by Benjamin Disraeli.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"dark horse." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/dark-horse>.
APA Style
dark horse. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/dark-horse
