svengali
/svɛŋˈɡɑːli/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
proscribed/svɛnˈdʒɑːli/
svengali noun: one who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.
Noun (1)
svengali (plural svengalis)
- One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.
- She also offers a fascinating glimpse into a more innocent age before svengalis began colluding with marketing men and TV execs to promote talentless wannabes to overnight success.2005 October 15, Hamilton Spectator
- The Tam Paton of today is nothing like the fearsome Svengali you would see on television during the Roller years. (It is used in multiple other occasions in this book)2014 March 31, in Jon Ronson’s “Lost at Sea”
Noun (2) capitalized: Svengali
Svengali (plural Svengalis)
- Alternative letter-case form of svengali.
Forms of svengali
| plural | svengalis |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Svengali |
| plural | Svengalis |
Origin of svengali
Named for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier's novel Trilby. More at citations.
Words that rhyme with svengali
Questions about svengali
- What does svengali mean?
- Svengali means one who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.
- What part of speech is svengali?
- Svengali is a noun.
- How do you pronounce svengali?
- Svengali is pronounced /svɛŋˈɡɑːli/.
- What is the plural of svengali?
- The plural of svengali is svengalis.
Words near svengali in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: svengali (page history and authors); Svengali (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.
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Cite this entry: “svengali.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/svengali. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.