éminence grise
A secret or unofficial decision-makerA secret or unofficial decision-maker.
Meaning
1 senses(idiomatic)A secret or unofficial decision-maker.
graue Eminenz
сірий кардина́лsiryj kardynál
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to FraBorrowed 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).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: éminence grisesSynonyms
2 synonymsWord family
2 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.