Word.ws English Dictionary

éminence grise

Syllables: émi·nence griseUK/ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz//ˌɛmɪnɑns ˈɡɹiz/

éminence grise noun: a secret or unofficial decision-maker.

Noun

éminence grise (plural éminences grises or éminence grises)

  1. (idiomatic) A secret or unofficial decision-maker.
    • But Harry Hopkins was no mere manipulator of people and ideas, no eminence grise masterminding the actions of figureheads.1987 July 12, John A[rthur] Garraty, “Harry’s Luck [book review of Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy by George McJimsey]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York...
    • [Ichirō] Ozawa is the Secretary-General of [Yukio] Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) and the éminence grise of the electoral campaign that catapulted the new Prime Minister to power.2009 September 16, Coco Masters, “Japan’s New Prime Minister—and New Shadow Shogun”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Oct 2017

Synonyms of éminence grise

Forms of éminence grise

pluraléminences grises
pluraléminence grises
alternative formeminence grise

Origin of éminence grise

Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (grey, rather than the red of a cardinal).

Words that rhyme with éminence grise

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about éminence grise

What does éminence grise mean?
Éminence grise means a secret or unofficial decision-maker.
What part of speech is éminence grise?
Éminence grise is a noun.
How do you pronounce éminence grise?
Éminence grise is pronounced /ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz/ (UK).
What is the plural of éminence grise?
The plural of éminence grise is éminences grises.

Words near éminence grise in the dictionary

  1. élégantes
  2. émeute
  3. émeutes
  4. émigré
  5. émigrés
  6. éminence grise
  7. éminence grises
  8. éminences grises
  9. énarque
  10. énarques
  11. épater la bourgeoisie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: éminence grise (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-éminence grise.oga.

Cite this entry: “éminence grise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/%C3%A9minence_grise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.