magnate

English

Etymology

Borrowed into late Middle English from Late Latin magnātēs, plural of magnās, from magnus (“great”), mid 15th c.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæɡneɪt/, /ˈmæɡnət/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡneɪt, -æɡnət
• Homophone: magnet (one pronunciation)

Noun

magnate (plural magnates)

1. Powerful industrialist; captain of industry.

   I have decided to become an oil magnate, after spending quite some time reading the dictionary definition of the word magnate.

   • 2014, Jennifer Hayward, The Magnate's Manifesto, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 2:

     With a suitable amount of life experience under her belt, she sat down and conjured up the sexiest, most delicious Italian wine magnate she could imagine, had him make his biggest mistake, and gave him a wife on the run.

   • 2015, Rod Judkins, The Art of Creative Thinking, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     Sir Richard Branson is an English business magnate, best known as the founder of the multimillion-pound Virgin Group, which consists of more than four hundred companies.

2. A person of rank, influence or distinction in any sphere.
   • 1814, [Lord Byron], “[Lara, a Tale.] Canto I.”, in Lara, a Tale. Jacqueline, a Tale, London: […] [F]or J[ohn] Murray, […], [b]y T[homas] Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza VII, page 10, lines 98–99:

     He mingled with the Magnates of his land; / Join'd the carousals of the great and gay, […]

   • 1839 November 2, “Brindley in Manchester”, in New Moral World, page 857:

     […] but there is not an illiterate Justice of the Peace, or rural magnate in the form of a country squire, that would not detect such a man as an empirie at once, if he rested his claim to such an appointment on the score of his scholarship.

3. (historical) In medieval and early modern Italy, a member of a legally defined category of especially wealthy patrician families, often deprived of the right to political participation by republican governments.
   • 2006, Christine Shaw, Popular Government and Oligarchy in Renaissance Italy, →ISBN, page 152:

     Those considered politically dangerous could be excluded from office by declaring them magnates, while cancellation of magnate status was a mark of favour, a means of political patronage.

Derived terms

• antimagnate
• magnateship

Translations

powerful industrialist; captain of industry

• Afrikaans: magnaat
• Bulgarian: магнат m (magnat)
• Catalan: magnat (ca) m
• Danish: magnat c
• Dutch: magnaat (nl) m or f
• French: magnat (fr) m
• Ido: magnato (io)
• Italian: magnate (it) m
• Macedonian: ма́гнат m (mágnat), магна́т m (magnát)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: magnat m

  Nynorsk: magnat m

• Polish: magnat (pl) m, magnatka (pl) f
• Portuguese: magnata (pt)
• Spanish: magnate (es) m
• Swedish: magnat (sv) c
• Ukrainian: магна́т m (mahnát)

person of rank, influence or distinction in any sphere — see also potentate

• Italian: magnate (it) m or f
• Macedonian: великан m (velikan)
• Portuguese: magnate (pt) m
• Spanish: magnate (es) m

References

• “magnate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

• magnate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• business magnate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Magenta, amagent, magenta, name tag, gateman, nametag

Italian

Etymology

From Latin magnās.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maɲˈɲa.te/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: ma‧gnà‧te

Noun

magnate m (plural magnati)

1. magnate, tycoon, captain of industry

Further reading

• “magnate”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Anagrams

• magenta, tamagne

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [maŋˈnaː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [maɲˈɲaː.te]

Noun

magnāte

1. vocative singular of magnātus

Middle English

Etymology

From Late Latin. Attested only in the plural in Middle English.

Noun

magnate (plural magnates)

1. a high official
   • c. 1438, John Lydgate, The Fall of Princes:

     reulers of the toun, Callid magnates

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

References

• “magnāt, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin magnātēs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maɡˈnate/ [maɣ̞ˈna.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: mag‧na‧te

Noun

magnate m (plural magnates, feminine magnate or magnata, feminine plural magnates or magnatas)

1. magnate, tycoon
   • 2026 June 12, Bernard Condon, “Acciones de SpaceX se disparan en debut en Wall Street y convierten a Elon Musk en el 1er billonario”, in AP News‎^[1], archived from the original on 12 June 2026:

     El magnate reiteró sus ambiciosos objetivos “de hacer que la vida sea multiplanetaria”.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• → Tagalog: magnate

Further reading

• “magnate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Anagrams

• magenta

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish magnate, from Late Latin magnātēs, plural of magnās, from magnus (“great”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /maɡˈnate/ [mɐɡ̠ˈn̪aː.t̪ɛ]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: mag‧na‧te

Noun

magnate (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜄ᜔ᜈᜆᜒ)

1. magnate

See also

• kapitalista
• kasike
• mamumuhunan

Further reading

• “magnate”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018