Magnate
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Powerful industrialist; captain of industry.
"I have decided to become an oil magnate, after spending quite some time reading the dictionary definition of the word magnate."
- 2 a very wealthy or powerful businessperson wordnet
- 3 A person of rank, influence or distinction in any sphere.
"He mingled with the Magnates of his land; / Join'd the carousals of the great and gay, […]"
- 4 In medieval and early modern Italy, a member of a legally defined category of especially wealthy patrician families, often deprived of the right to political participation by republican governments. historical
"Those considered politically dangerous could be excluded from office by declaring them magnates, while cancellation of magnate status was a mark of favour, a means of political patronage."
Example
More examples"Besides his battery manufacturing company, the business magnate also has ventures to build reusable rocket stages for commercial space flight, fully electric cars and cheaper, more efficient solar panels."
Etymology
Borrowed into late Middle English from Late Latin magnātēs, plural of magnās, from magnus (“great”), mid 15th c.
Related phrases
More for "magnate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.