"svengali" meaning in English

See svengali in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /svɛŋˈɡɑːli/, /svɛnˈdʒɑːli/ Forms: svengalis [plural]
Rhymes: -ɑːli Etymology: Named for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier's novel Trilby. More at citations. Head templates: {{en-noun}} svengali (plural svengalis)
  1. One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul. Wikipedia link: George du Maurier, Trilby (novel) Synonyms: Svengali Related terms: manipulator, spin doctor, éminence grise, power broker, kingmaker, puppet master, string-puller Translations (One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.): maquiavélico (Galician), rasputiniano (Galician), Manipulator [masculine] (German), Strippenzieher [masculine] (German), Drahtzieher [masculine] (German), Puppenspieler [masculine] (German), Graue Eminenz [feminine] (German), Königsmacher [masculine] (German)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for svengali meaning in English (4.5kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "Named for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier's novel Trilby. More at citations.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "svengalis",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "svengali (plural svengalis)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005 October 15, Hamilton Spectator",
          "text": "She also offers a fascinating glimpse into a more innocent age before svengalis began colluding with marketing men and TV execs to promote talentless wannabes to overnight success.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 31, in Jon Ronson’s “Lost at Sea”",
          "text": "The Tam Paton of today is nothing like the fearsome Svengali you would see on television during the Roller years. (It is used in multiple other occasions in this book)"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 February 2016, in Hugh Hewitt's \"Six reasons Trump is still better than Clinton\" in the Washington Examiner",
          "text": "Donald's daughter and Svengali Ivanka is a smart, smart, smart lady with an extraordinary intellect and influence on her father."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 November 18, Jamelle Bouie, “Government by the Worst Men”, in Slate",
          "text": "We have Stephen Bannon, the former head of Breitbart known for his open ties to white supremacists, anti-Semites, and foreign reactionaries in France and Russia. Bannon is a Svengali of sorts for the ugliest forces in American and international politics, a man who believes the Western world is in a fundamental struggle with Islam and who sees multiculturalism and liberal openness as a threat to the future of the West.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul."
      ],
      "id": "en-svengali-en-noun-4zQm3ikZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "manipulate",
          "manipulate"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "mesmeric",
          "mesmeric"
        ],
        [
          "sinister",
          "sinister"
        ],
        [
          "influence",
          "influence"
        ],
        [
          "coach",
          "coach"
        ],
        [
          "mentor",
          "mentor"
        ],
        [
          "mogul",
          "mogul"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "manipulator"
        },
        {
          "word": "spin doctor"
        },
        {
          "word": "éminence grise"
        },
        {
          "word": "power broker"
        },
        {
          "word": "kingmaker"
        },
        {
          "word": "puppet master"
        },
        {
          "word": "string-puller"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Svengali"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "word": "maquiavélico"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "word": "rasputiniano"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Manipulator"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Strippenzieher"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Drahtzieher"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Puppenspieler"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Graue Eminenz"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Königsmacher"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "George du Maurier",
        "Trilby (novel)"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/svɛŋˈɡɑːli/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/svɛnˈdʒɑːli/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːli"
    }
  ],
  "word": "svengali"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Named for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier's novel Trilby. More at citations.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "svengalis",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "svengali (plural svengalis)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "manipulator"
    },
    {
      "word": "spin doctor"
    },
    {
      "word": "éminence grise"
    },
    {
      "word": "power broker"
    },
    {
      "word": "kingmaker"
    },
    {
      "word": "puppet master"
    },
    {
      "word": "string-puller"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English 3-syllable words",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English eponyms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Rhymes:English/ɑːli"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005 October 15, Hamilton Spectator",
          "text": "She also offers a fascinating glimpse into a more innocent age before svengalis began colluding with marketing men and TV execs to promote talentless wannabes to overnight success.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 31, in Jon Ronson’s “Lost at Sea”",
          "text": "The Tam Paton of today is nothing like the fearsome Svengali you would see on television during the Roller years. (It is used in multiple other occasions in this book)"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 February 2016, in Hugh Hewitt's \"Six reasons Trump is still better than Clinton\" in the Washington Examiner",
          "text": "Donald's daughter and Svengali Ivanka is a smart, smart, smart lady with an extraordinary intellect and influence on her father."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 November 18, Jamelle Bouie, “Government by the Worst Men”, in Slate",
          "text": "We have Stephen Bannon, the former head of Breitbart known for his open ties to white supremacists, anti-Semites, and foreign reactionaries in France and Russia. Bannon is a Svengali of sorts for the ugliest forces in American and international politics, a man who believes the Western world is in a fundamental struggle with Islam and who sees multiculturalism and liberal openness as a threat to the future of the West.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "manipulate",
          "manipulate"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ],
        [
          "mesmeric",
          "mesmeric"
        ],
        [
          "sinister",
          "sinister"
        ],
        [
          "influence",
          "influence"
        ],
        [
          "coach",
          "coach"
        ],
        [
          "mentor",
          "mentor"
        ],
        [
          "mogul",
          "mogul"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "George du Maurier",
        "Trilby (novel)"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/svɛŋˈɡɑːli/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/svɛnˈdʒɑːli/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːli"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "Svengali"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "word": "maquiavélico"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "word": "rasputiniano"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Manipulator"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Strippenzieher"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Drahtzieher"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Puppenspieler"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Graue Eminenz"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Königsmacher"
    }
  ],
  "word": "svengali"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (bb24e0f and c7ea76d). 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.