Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One who has the political power to influence the selection of a candidate for high public office.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who makes kings; one who raises a porson to a royal throne: a title applied specifically to Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick (died 1471), who was the principal agent in making Edward IV. king in place of Henry VI., and afterward in dethroning Edward and restoring Henry.
Wiktionary
- n. Someone who helps making a leader a force to reckon with, without having any desire for the position themselves.
WordNet 3.0
- n. English statesman; during the War of the Roses he fought first for the house of York and secured the throne for Edward IV and then changed sides to fight for the house of Lancaster and secured the throne for Henry VI (1428-1471)
- n. an important person who can bring leaders to power through the exercise of political influence
Etymologies
- From king + maker. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“He faces an uphill battle to restore a party that once was known as the kingmaker in German coalitions but has sunk in public opinion polls.”
The Wall Street Journal: Rösler Opposes ECB Write-Down on Greece
“Rydzyk has refused to deny making the comments, according to the BBC.Rydzyk has been described as a "kingmaker" in Poland.”
The Guardian: Priest known for extreme views invited to European parliament by MEPs
“Concretize the popular opinion in a couple charged terms -- "magic man," "kingmaker" -- then throw in a condescending generalization -- "of course" -- as you negate their energy with a dismissal.”
“Mr. Chiu apparently has turned himself into quite the "kingmaker" - all three candidates he endorsed this year for their primaries won.”
“But despite the show of unity, Britain remained in political limbo with Cameron holding the most seats in parliament, Brown still in nominal power and Clegg the so-called kingmaker following Thursday's vote.”
“Dan has apparently designated himself kingmaker, which is perhaps unsurprising given that he previously took credit for getting Greg Nickels elected in the first place.”
“Does he see himself as some kind of kingmaker? thats actually pretty funny.”
“DeMint's power in the conservative movement has been increasing in the 2010 election, with some dubbing him a "kingmaker" for backing many Tea Party candidates who went on to beat their favored establishment-backed opponents.”
“Looks like she can make some big bucks on the lecture circuit, and remain a "kingmaker" inside the Party. inat”
“Howard Fineman rightly calls Ailes a "kingmaker" and you can see that that's his goal.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kingmaker’.
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king phrases/words
how king is used
king's ale, Kings, king-ale, king and country, king-apple, King Arthur, king-auk, king-ball, king-bane, king-becoming, king-bee, king-bishop and 227 more...
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My Little Phonies
Names for the next generation of My Little Ponies. Inspired by Star's list.
juggernaught, flamboyant, cuddly maggot, astrobleme, agroof, windburn, poshlost, crucifer, feedbag, dunderwhelp, nebelwerfer, bliss ninny and 453 more...
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Novel Words
Concise words to sprinkle in my prose.
apropos, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, antinomy, sanguine, glyph, taciturn, aesthetic, truncate, coffee and 143 more...
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New words from Reading
woe, kingmaker, tizzy, lark, verity, marzipan, swoon, chutzpah, quiescence, curlicue, bedevil, quixotic and 69 more...
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rostam
shahnameh, paragon, writ, constrain, kingmaker, tangential, simorgh, angha, mazanderan, mehrab, zahhak, feraydun and 56 more...
Tweets
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