lexicow

magnate

/ˈmæɡneɪt//ˈmæɡneɪt/·noun
I watch one figure stand perfectly still while every coin on the floor begins to crawl toward it, as though the man were a lodestone and the money so much loose iron. They stream in from all four corners, stack into a heap beneath his boots, and lift him up until he stands a clear head above everything around him. The faint lines of pull all bend to the same point — him. He has not chased a single coin; he simply stood where it all came.
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Definition

A magnate is a person of great wealth and power, especially the commanding figure at the head of a large industry — an oil magnate, a press magnate, a shipping magnate. From the Latin magnus, 'great', the word implies command over huge revenue and the kind of influence that lets a magnate consolidate whole sectors under a single name. It carries a sense of dominance: not merely rich, but powerful enough to bend a market around themselves.

Examples

  • The railway magnate owned every line for a hundred miles and the towns that depended on them.
  • A media magnate can shape opinion across an entire country where rival voices are scarce.
  • She rose from a market stall to become a retail magnate whose brand was prevalent on every high street.

Collocations

a business magnate·an oil magnate·a media magnate·a shipping magnate·a property magnate

Synonyms

tycoon·mogul·baron·industrialist·grandee

In TOEFL & IELTS

Useful in economics and history writing, usually with the industry named first ('an oil magnate'). Pronounced /ˈmæɡneɪt/. Note the near-homophone 'magnet' — the two even share an old root sense of attraction — but a magnate is a powerful person, a magnet pulls iron.