Svengali
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of Svengali
First recorded in 1940–45; after the evil hypnotist of the same name in the novel Trilby (1894) by George Du Maurier
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.
She’s susceptible to a Svengali yet doesn’t want anyone to tell her how to write her songs.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025
He proceeded to appear live from the lobby on Bannon's podcast "War Room," joking with the onetime Trump Svengali about how all the authors in attendance should have dressed in drag.
From Salon • Apr. 8, 2023
Later, McLaren would boast he was a "con man", a Svengali who twisted popular culture into nothing more than a convenient marketing gimmick.
From BBC • Dec. 29, 2022
Tucci plays record producer Clive Davis, who signed Houston to Arista Records in 1983 at the age of 19, becoming a kind of Svengali to the young singer.
From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2022
Contemptuous of Oppenheimer’s arguments against the Super, he depicted Oppenheimer as a Svengali ruthlessly hypnotizing some of the world’s most sophisticated scientists into joining his opposition campaign.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
