as in elder statesman
the senior member of a group
the revered éminence grise of Civil War historians
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Recent Examples of éminence grise
But none have matched JPMorgan, which, under the leadership of Wall Street’s eminence grise Jamie Dimon, has thrived.
—
Paolo Confino, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2024
Belafonte was 57, an eminence grise in entertainment, and his participation motivated lots of artists who admired him.
—Rob Tannenbaum, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024
Federer serving in the Sinatra/Clooney part as the eminence grise.
—Jason Gay, WSJ, 24 Sep. 2022
That emotionally astute author, the eminence grise, the institutional memory.
—Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2021
Matthews is an eminence grise of television news, his pugilistic and red-cheeked persona familiar to viewers from countless election nights.
—BostonGlobe.com, 2 Mar. 2020
In the world of the candle obsessed, Diptyque is the eminence grise.
—Kathleen Hou, The Cut, 16 Jan. 2018
Paolo Confino, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2024
Belafonte was 57, an eminence grise in entertainment, and his participation motivated lots of artists who admired him.
—Rob Tannenbaum, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024
Federer serving in the Sinatra/Clooney part as the eminence grise.
—Jason Gay, WSJ, 24 Sep. 2022
That emotionally astute author, the eminence grise, the institutional memory.
—Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2021
Matthews is an eminence grise of television news, his pugilistic and red-cheeked persona familiar to viewers from countless election nights.
—BostonGlobe.com, 2 Mar. 2020
In the world of the candle obsessed, Diptyque is the eminence grise.
—Kathleen Hou, The Cut, 16 Jan. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for éminence grise
Noun
-
He’s joined by elder statesman Randall (Steve Carell), idealistic AI expert Jeff (Ramy Youssef) and the richest of them all: Ven (Cory Michael Smith), a clear Elon Musk analogue who rules over his social media empire with a cocky bravado.—
Dave Nemetz,
TVLine,
2 June 2025
-
Only a couple teams can attract a Messi or a Beckham, while far more have a shot at wooing a player like Vela: someone still on the south side of 30, with a few prime years left to give before evolving into an elder statesman and eventually an off-the-field club embassador.—
Ian Nicholas Quillen,
Forbes.com,
29 May 2025
Noun
-
But the past couple of years have seen the team replace veterans with younger alternatives who offer greater positional versatility.—
Jeff Rueter,
New York Times,
8 June 2025
-
Alex Caruso, one of the team’s veterans, was a bench guy, until he was tasked with defending Nikola Jokić during the Thunder’s series against the Denver Nuggets, and did about as good a job as anyone has ever done of shutting Jokić down.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
8 June 2025
Noun
-
The argument that Trump has violated the 10th Amendment is a clever subversion of a line of thinking that has traditionally been backed by conservative judges, said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law.—
Laura J. Nelson,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2025
-
Pesticides are unique among chemicals, though, says Melissa Perry, an environmental epidemiologist and dean of George Mason’s College of Public Health.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
5 June 2025
Noun
-
Columnist Steve Lopez asks: If people taking care of our elders get deported, will anyone take their place?—
Kevinisha Walker,
Los Angeles Times,
2 June 2025
-
Every day of inaction is an act of aggression against the system that protects our elders from poverty and indignity.—
Teresa Ghilarducci,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“éminence grise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/%C3%A9minence%20grise. Accessed 13 Jun. 2025.
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