A figurehead is a person with nominal leadership of an organization or government but no actual authority. For example, many modern monarchs are figureheads because their roles are merely ceremonial and most of their power was long ago ceded to democratic government.
Figurehead is often misused to mean leader, head, or prominent figure without implying false authority. For example, these writers use figurehead to describe actual leaders rather than merely nominal leaders:
When citizens elect mayors to four-year terms they have a figurehead accountable to voters whose job it is to take a leading role in the city. [Leavenworth Times]
And better yet, she was appointed to her position by her father, a figurehead of Alaska’s old-guard GOP … [Alaska Dispatch]
I think it’s all of these and more, but I am grateful that Obama has risen as the figurehead leading the charge … [comment on The Hill]
In each of these cases, any synonym of leader would make more sense.
These writers use figurehead in its conventional sense:
Asma is merely a well-coiffed figurehead; she can’t take on the strong vested interests in the Assad regime. [New Statesman]
You couldn’t accuse Jonathan Adnams, chairman of the Suffolk brewery that bears his name, of merely being a figurehead for the family firm. [This is Money]
William is the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, a ceremonial figurehead whose job involves checking off whatever boxes the assorted governments under her nominal command tell her to. [Calgary Herald]
In that last example, ceremonial figurehead is redundant because a figurehead is usually inherently ceremonial.
