stage-manage
Americanverb (used with object)
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to work as a stage manager for.
When he wasn't acting, he stage-managed a repertory theater.
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to arrange or stage in order to produce a theatrical or spectacular effect.
The clients were most impressed with the way she stage-managed the whole presentation.
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to arrange or direct unobtrusively or in secret.
He stage-managed Mediterranean black-market operations from his secluded villa on the Riviera.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to work as stage manager for (a play, etc)
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(tr) to arrange, present, or supervise from behind the scenes
to stage-manage a campaign
Etymology
Origin of stage-manage
First recorded in 1875–80; back formation from stage manager
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Thelma’s fakery has a modern-day echo in Lori Loughlin’s efforts to stage-manage her influencer daughter’s passage into USC; no matter how high up the class ladder you are, there’s always another rung.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2020
They speak to the living and stage-manage events from the grave.
From Fox News ● Mar. 23, 2019
Mr. Eagan would go on to direct “Hedwig” outside the city, and to stage-manage it in New York.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2019
That might be a refreshing change from past administration efforts to stage-manage everything from the White House.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 14, 2017
As a reaction from the season of gloom and industrial strife that had just passed away the agencies that purvey and stage-manage sensations laid themselves out to do their level best on this momentous occasion.
From Beasts and Super-Beasts by Saki
As the New York Times reported, Erika Kirk carefully stage-managed the days and weeks after her husband’s murder, making sure to photograph and publish every potentially cinematic moment of her grief.
From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2025
In truth, it feels closer to stage-managed reality TV.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
However, one current and two former workers from different parts of the country, claim that the restaurant audits that were promised, were stage-managed by the branches.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2025
Some big news in the world or an internal failure would spark a wave of carefully stage-managed soul-searching from leadership, and ad hoc committees of well-intentioned volunteers would be assembled to write lists of recommendations.
From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2024
Strauss stage-managed the AEC hearing into Oppenheimer’s security clearance as he had the campaign of calumny that preceded it.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
She enjoyed stage-managing debates and revelled in her role of making Parliament the focus of attention.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2023
Discomfort and irritation are vital emotions for readers — but if the author is stage-managing us, she pushes a bit too far.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2021
Sandra Charles was stage-managing as she posed with friend Jamie Coleman in front of the photo-booth setup at the bright-orange Vizzy trailer.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 21, 2021
But after 10 years at the Universal Studios theme park in California, he is only No. 13 on the stage-managing roster.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2020
It was he who, from his prison cell, was stage-managing the comedy or the tragedy announced in the first note.
From 813 by Maurice Leblanc
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
