eminence grise

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Alexander Hamilton, by then a New York lawyer who still played the president’s éminence grise, wanted Washington to exit as he entered: a unifying figure optimistic about the “infant nation.”

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2025

Sunday night at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, Jay-Z accepted the Dr. Dre global impact award, a sort of éminence grise prize.

From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2024

He too was sage-like, however feistily so, in his later years, an éminence grise who in 2017 was awarded the Kyoto Prize, the closest a musicologist can get to a Nobel.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 26, 2022

Multiple experts praised his skill — Dr. Walter Straus, an associate vice president at the drug company Merck & Co., said Whitley is an "éminence grise" in pediatrics whom people trust.

From Salon • Sep. 26, 2020

Although he may have always been described as the enfant terrible of fashion, today Gaultier is one the industry’s éminence grise.

From The Guardian • Jan. 23, 2020