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.

In the 15 years since he began “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” his Food Network flagship, Mr. Fieri, 54, has become perhaps the most powerful and bankable figure in food television, the éminence grise of the eminently greasy.

From New York Times

To begin with, “it must be said that a lawyer shouldn’t do anything illegal — and that would be enough,” said Attali, an eminence grise at Davos.

From Seattle Times

In a supposedly more sensitive era, hundreds of people regularly travel from all around the world to a small town an hour outside of Paris to study clowning with Gaulier, a gruff 78-year-old éminence grise known for his blunt, flamboyantly negative feedback.

From New York Times

That emotionally astute author, the eminence grise, the institutional memory.

From Washington Post

Less successful is Mark Rylance as a strange tech titan named Peter Isherwell, an eminence grise of prominent white teeth, Julian Assange-like hair and irritatingly gnomic pronouncements.

From Washington Post