"éminence grise" meaning in English

See éminence grise in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌeɪ-/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌɛmɪnɑns ˈɡɹiz/ [General-American], /ˌeɪ-/ [General-American] Audio: En-us-éminence grise.oga [US] Forms: éminences grises [plural], éminence grises [plural]
Rhymes: -iːz Etymology: Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (grey, rather than the red of a cardinal). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*men- (stand out)|*gʰreh₁-}}, {{bor|en|fr|éminence grise|lit=grey eminence}} French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”) Head templates: {{en-noun|éminences grises|s|nolinkhead=1}} éminence grise (plural éminences grises or éminence grises)
  1. (idiomatic) A secret or unofficial decision-maker. Wikipedia link: Cardinal Richelieu, François Leclerc du Tremblay, Louis XIII Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): Greys, People Synonyms: power behind the throne, gray eminence, eminence grise Related terms: puppetmaster, svengali Translations (secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne): 權力經紀人 (Chinese Mandarin), 权力经纪人 (quánlì jīngjìrén) (Chinese Mandarin), šedá eminence [feminine] (Czech), grå eminence [common-gender] (Danish), éminence grise (Dutch), grijze eminentie (Dutch), harmaa eminenssi (Finnish), éminence grise [feminine] (French), რუხი კარდინალი (ruxi ḳardinali) (Georgian), graue Eminenz [feminine] (German), eminenza grigia [feminine] (Italian), 黒幕 (kuromaku) (alt: くろまく) (Japanese), 흑막 (heungmak) (Korean), grå eminense [masculine] (Norwegian), szara eminencja [feminine] (Polish), eminência parda [feminine] (Portuguese), eminență cenușie [feminine] (Romanian), сива еминенција [Cyrillic, feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), siva eminencija [Roman, feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), eminencia gris [feminine] (Spanish), jefe máximo [Mexico, masculine] (Spanish), grå eminens (Swedish), сірий кардина́л (siryj kardynál) [masculine] (Ukrainian)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for éminence grise meaning in English (8.3kB)

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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*men- (stand out)",
        "4": "*gʰreh₁-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "éminence grise",
        "lit": "grey eminence"
      },
      "expansion": "French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (grey, rather than the red of a cardinal).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "éminences grises",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    {
      "form": "éminence grises",
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        "plural"
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      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Greys",
          "orig": "en:Greys",
          "parents": [
            "Colors",
            "Light",
            "Vision",
            "Energy",
            "Senses",
            "Nature",
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            "Fundamental",
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          "kind": "topical",
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987 July 12, John A[rthur] Garraty, “Harry’s Luck [book review of Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy by George McJimsey]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-12-19, page 28",
          "text": "But Harry Hopkins was no mere manipulator of people and ideas, no eminence grise masterminding the actions of figureheads.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 September 16, Coco Masters, “Japan’s New Prime Minister—and New Shadow Shogun”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-10-21",
          "text": "[Ichirō] Ozawa is the Secretary-General of [Yukio] Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) and the éminence grise of the electoral campaign that catapulted the new Prime Minister to power.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A secret or unofficial decision-maker."
      ],
      "id": "en-éminence_grise-en-noun-Z1Vg0lLY",
      "links": [
        [
          "secret",
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        ],
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          "unofficial",
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        [
          "decision-maker",
          "decisionmaker"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A secret or unofficial decision-maker."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "puppetmaster"
        },
        {
          "word": "svengali"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "power behind the throne"
        },
        {
          "word": "gray eminence"
        },
        {
          "word": "eminence grise"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "權力經紀人"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "quánlì jīngjìrén",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "权力经纪人"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "šedá eminence"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "grå eminence"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "éminence grise"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "grijze eminentie"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "harmaa eminenssi"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "éminence grise"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "ruxi ḳardinali",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "რუხი კარდინალი"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "graue Eminenz"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "eminenza grigia"
        },
        {
          "alt": "くろまく",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "kuromaku",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "黒幕"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "heungmak",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "흑막"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "grå eminense"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "szara eminencja"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "eminência parda"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "eminență cenușie"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "се́рый кардина́л m (séryj kardinál, literally “grey cardinal”)",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "Cyrillic",
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "сива еминенција"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "Roman",
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "siva eminencija"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "eminencia gris"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "Mexico",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "jefe máximo"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "word": "grå eminens"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "siryj kardynál",
          "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "сірий кардина́л"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Cardinal Richelieu",
        "François Leclerc du Tremblay",
        "Louis XIII"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌeɪ-/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌɛmɪnɑns ˈɡɹiz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌeɪ-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-iːz"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-éminence grise.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-us-%C3%A9minence_grise.oga/En-us-%C3%A9minence_grise.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-us-%C3%A9minence_grise.oga",
      "tags": [
        "US"
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      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "éminence grise"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "name": "root"
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        "lit": "grey eminence"
      },
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      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (grey, rather than the red of a cardinal).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "éminence grises",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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      "name": "en-noun"
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  "hyphenation": [
    "émi‧nence"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "puppetmaster"
    },
    {
      "word": "svengali"
    }
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  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms borrowed from French",
        "English terms derived from French",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰreh₁-",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- (stand out)",
        "English terms spelled with É",
        "English terms spelled with ◌́",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with raw sortkeys",
        "Rhymes:English/iːz",
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        "en:Greys",
        "en:People"
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        {
          "ref": "1987 July 12, John A[rthur] Garraty, “Harry’s Luck [book review of Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy by George McJimsey]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-12-19, page 28",
          "text": "But Harry Hopkins was no mere manipulator of people and ideas, no eminence grise masterminding the actions of figureheads.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 September 16, Coco Masters, “Japan’s New Prime Minister—and New Shadow Shogun”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-10-21",
          "text": "[Ichirō] Ozawa is the Secretary-General of [Yukio] Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) and the éminence grise of the electoral campaign that catapulted the new Prime Minister to power.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A secret or unofficial decision-maker."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "secret",
          "secret#Adjective"
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        [
          "unofficial",
          "unofficial"
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          "decision-maker",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A secret or unofficial decision-maker."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "power behind the throne"
        },
        {
          "word": "gray eminence"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Cardinal Richelieu",
        "François Leclerc du Tremblay",
        "Louis XIII"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌeɪ-/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌɛmɪnɑns ˈɡɹiz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌeɪ-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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      "audio": "En-us-éminence grise.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-us-%C3%A9minence_grise.oga/En-us-%C3%A9minence_grise.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-us-%C3%A9minence_grise.oga",
      "tags": [
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    }
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "eminence grise"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "權力經紀人"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "quánlì jīngjìrén",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "权力经纪人"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "šedá eminence"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "grå eminence"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "éminence grise"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "grijze eminentie"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "harmaa eminenssi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "éminence grise"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "ruxi ḳardinali",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "რუხი კარდინალი"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "graue Eminenz"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "eminenza grigia"
    },
    {
      "alt": "くろまく",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "kuromaku",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "黒幕"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "heungmak",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "흑막"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "grå eminense"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "szara eminencja"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "eminência parda"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "eminență cenușie"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "се́рый кардина́л m (séryj kardinál, literally “grey cardinal”)",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "Cyrillic",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "сива еминенција"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "Roman",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "siva eminencija"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "eminencia gris"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "Mexico",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "jefe máximo"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "word": "grå eminens"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "siryj kardynál",
      "sense": "secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "сірий кардина́л"
    }
  ],
  "word": "éminence grise"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.