kingmaker

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.

Radio’s role as kingmaker was superseded, first by streaming services and then by TikTok.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026

Her trajectory from New York Times opinion editor to Substack entrepreneur to apparent kingmaker within a legacy media institution perfectly encapsulates how we have confused platform with expertise and audience with authority.

From Salon • Feb. 7, 2026

Rupert Murdoch's 70-year career saw him as "both an interventionist editor-in-chief figure and a political kingmaker", according to Paddy Manning, an investigative journalist who wrote The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch.

From BBC • Dec. 23, 2025

During that trip, South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and renowned Democratic kingmaker, told The Times that Newsom would be “a hell of a candidate.”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 8, 2025

In later years, I discovered that my father was not only an adviser to kings but a kingmaker.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela