"man of authority" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It can be used to describe someone who has been granted authority or responsibility over something, such as a "man of authority in the government" or a "man of authority in the workplace". For example: The mayor was a man of authority, respected by all the citizens of the city.
What they were really describing when they talked of Hill was a man of authority, an adult in full.
But to be a white man of authority, a sahib, is "to appear resolute, to know his own mind and do definite things".
Bob Odenkirk was perfect as Saul Goodman's better twin; a man of authority whose loose relationship with the truth this time stemmed from a wide-eyed fear of evil.
Starring a dazzling young newcomer, Tahar Rahim, left, in the title role, "A Prophet" is a bildungsroman charting the evolution of Malik, an illiterate 19-year-old Arab street kid who develops into a man of authority and moral choice under the most harrowing circumstances.
Sarkozy believes that the climate of fear and anxiety in France after the deaths of more than 230 people in terrorist attacks claimed by Islamists in the past 19 months means the nation needs a man of authority such as himself.
In my experience, the inspiration that the greatest teachers spark in their students comes from the beauty and power of the ideas they discuss, not, as David Brooks suggests, from the aura of "a man of authority" ("Learning to Think, and Live," column, July 20).
The men of authority handle their roles well, with Roger Clark fine as the Duke and David Harewood even more imposing as Oberon.
Rap was to me a means of sublimation my fantasies of saying outrageous things to men of authority in a filled auditorium; holding a girl by the waist and telling her to meet me somewhere after class.
Of an aristocratic family, Bembo was educated principally by his father, a man of great authority in the Venetian republic.
He is a man of moral authority, and he is my brother — in many cases, even more than some of the so-called Negroes out here who call me their brother".
He remains, though, a man of unsurpassed authority in F1.
