social lion
- noun
- Archaic
:
celebridad social
- After her latest film, she became the most sought-after social lion in the city.
Examples
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The party was filled with social lions eager to see and be seen.
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He was once a social lion, but now he prefers solitude over the spotlight.
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Everyone wants to meet the latest social lion of the city.
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She is a well-known social lion in New York.
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The party was filled with social lions eager to see and be seen.
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After her latest film, she became the most sought-after social lion in the city.
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Everyone wants to meet the latest social lion of the city.
Synonyms
59
7.5
A person who is admired and often the main guest at events
33
6.6
A famous person often from movies, music, or sports
29
6.7
A person well known in high society who often goes to parties
Antonyms
How Popular
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'social' clearly signals a relation to fashionable society, but the use of 'lion' here is metaphorical (a celebrated or prominent person) rather than the animal, which is not directly deducible by most B1 learners from the literal noun. Because the metaphorical use of 'lion' as an admired public figure is language-specific and requires prior exposure, the phrase gives partial clues but is not fully predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
The phrase social lion combines social and lion. One popular story says people long ago called a fashionable, showy celebrity a 'lion' because, like a real lion in a zoo, they drew everyone's eyes. So a social lion means 'a person who is the centre of attention at parties and events'.