father figure

• father-figure

father figure (plural father figures)

1. One who represents, behaves as, or is regarded as equivalent to a father for another person or group of people.
   • 1999 Dec. 13, Ian Traynor, "Obituary: Franjo Tudjman," The Guardian (UK) (retrieved 8 July 2014):

     Tudjman, the national father-figure, emerged as the improbable and unexpected victor of the wars of the Yugoslav succession of 1991-99.

   • 2008 July 21, Jonathan Mahler, "Hamdan: Guantánamo's Mystery Man," Time (retrieved 8 July 2014):

     Orphaned at a young age, he found a father figure in the confident and committed al-Bahri.