strongman

Etymology

strong + -man

noun

1. Someone who performs feats of strength, sometimes in competitions or in a circus.
   Giovanni Battista Belzoni, the famous Egyptian archeologist, who was a man of gigantic stature, began his public career as a strongman at the Bartholomew Fair, under the management of Gyngell, the conjuror, who dubbed him The Young Hercules. 1920, Harry Houdini, chapter 11, in Miracle Mongers and Their Methods
2. A forceful or brutal person, usually a ruler or tyrant.
   Since the Cold War’s end, a staggering 70 percent of governments headed by strongmen collapsed after the ruler departed, according to one data set. 2022-01-07, Max Fisher, “Behind Kazakhstan Unrest, the ‘Strongman’s Dilemma’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN