magnate

[mag-neyt, -nit]

noun

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.

magnate

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• magnateship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of magnate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of magnate¹

C15: back formation from earlier magnates from Late Latin: great men, plural of magnās, from Latin magnus great

Example Sentences

Its name is associated with Thiel Capital, a California-based investment firm founded by the tech magnate, who himself was born in Germany and holds German citizenship.

Read more on Barron's

The 67-year-old construction magnate and former mayor of the Honduran capital is running in a tight three-way race gainst a leftist lawyer and a fellow right-wing TV host in the Sunday vote.

Read more on Barron's

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.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

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.

Read more on Literature

That hospital – once the home of a Scottish shipping magnate – would be her home for a month in April 1958, after a judge ordered the then-16-year-old to undergo treatment for "disobedient" behaviour.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

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