magnate

American  

[mag-neyt, -nit] / ˈmæg neɪt, -nɪt /

noun

magnates plural

1. a person of great influence, importance, or standing in a particular enterprise, field of business, etc..

   a railroad magnate.

2. a person of eminence or distinction in any field.

   literary magnates.

3. a member of the former upper house in either the Polish or Hungarian parliament.

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magnate British  

/ ˈmæɡneɪt, -nɪt /

noun

1. a person of power and rank in any sphere, esp in industry

2. history a great nobleman

3. (formerly) a member of the upper chamber in certain European parliaments, as in Hungary

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• magnateship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• magnates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of magnate

1400–50; back formation from Middle English magnates (plural) < Late Latin magnātēs leading people, equivalent to Latin magn ( us ) magn- + -ātēs, plural of -ās noun suffix

Explanation

If you’re a hugely successful businessperson, particularly if you’ve cornered the market in a specific area, you’re a magnate. Magnates are often larger-than-life characters, like that oil tycoon who wears a cowboy hat with his tuxedo. Historically, a magnate was a man of noble birth (from the Latin magnus, meaning "a nobleman," or at least someone distinguished by his achievements. In the twentieth century, the stock of a magnate has rather fallen. If you’re vulgar and loud-spoken as well as rich, you’re probably a magnate. Thanks to the legendary movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, all film studio heads are now "studio magnates."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

magnate magnates

Perez, 79, who has been in office since 2009, beat challenger and renewable energy magnate Enrique Riquelme in the election by picking up 65% of the votes.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

Then Miller enlisted investment help from his friend, railroad magnate Henry Huntington, transformed the boarding house into a hotel and renamed it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

Over his career Diller has reinvented himself as a studio executive, digital brand executive and magazine magnate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

In the 1870s, Leland Stanford, the railroad magnate and benefactor of the university that bears his name, funded an effort to find out.

From Slate ● May 25, 2026

Financial backers of both institutions—the Chemical Foundation in Columbia’s case and William Crocker, a banking and railroad magnate, in Berkeley’s case—seemed eager to pony up funds to cover Sloan’s further research.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

But I’ve tackled enough of it to inform you that, sadly, ignoring Charles Schwab or J. P. Morgan Chase will not make the ghosts of these greedy American business magnates go away.

From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2026

The Rand Club was founded a year later by mining magnates, including Cecil John Rhodes, who walked the future streets of Johannesburg and selected a corner for what he deemed an essential gentlemen’s club.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025

It is, by design, capable of confronting not merely individual wrongdoers but vast criminal networks and incalculably rich corporations and commercial magnates.

From Slate ● Nov. 20, 2024

Also left unsaid: how many people will assist the two magnates and how that staff will be paid.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2024

A passenger train also rolled through town, carrying not only travelers of modest means but also the well-appointed private coaches that the wealthy magnates of that era owned and used to travel around the country.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Related Words

• aristocrat
• capitalist
• financier
• merchant
• mogul
• tycoon