Definition

Noun: 1. A medieval knight who traveled in search of adventures to demonstrate his chivalry and prowess: A knight-errant is a figure from romance literature and chivalric tradition who wanders from place to place, seeking opportunities to perform heroic deeds, right wrongs, and protect the helpless, often for the sake of honor or a noble ideal.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The tales of King Arthur are filled with stories of the knight-errant who roamed the land, challenging evil and rescuing damsels in distress.
  • In his quest for glory, he lived the life of a knight-errant, guided by a personal code of honor rather than the command of a lord.
  • The novel's protagonist is a classic knight-errant, motivated by a pure heart to wander and fight injustice wherever he finds it.

Advanced Usage

• Figurative Use: The term can be used figuratively to describe a person, especially a man, who champions a cause or seeks to help others in a quixotic or old-fashioned manner.
  • He saw himself as a modern knight-errant, fighting legal battles for the poor and disenfranchised.

Variants and Related Words

• Knight-errantry (noun): The practice, conduct, or lifestyle of a knight-errant; chivalric adventure.
  • His youth was spent in a foolish dream of knight-errantry.

Synonyms

• Paladin: A champion of a cause; historically, one of the legendary knights of Charlemagne.
• Champion: One who fights for a cause or on behalf of another.
• Questing knight: A knight engaged in a search or mission.

Related Idioms

• To tilt at windmills: To fight imaginary enemies or attack nonexistent problems. This idiom comes from the story of Don Quixote, a famous literary parody of a knight-errant.
  • In arguing this point, you are just a knight-errant tilting at windmills.

Noun

1. a wandering knight travelling in search of adventure