svengali
One who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influenceOne who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.
Meaning
1 sensesOne who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence; especially a coach, mentor or industry mogul.
Manipulator, Strippenzieher, Drahtzieher
- the musician in a novel by George du Maurier who controls Trilby's singing hypnotically
- someone (usually maleficent) who tries to persuade or force another person to do their bidding
Translations
1 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
Named for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier's novel Trilby. More at ciNamed for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier's novel Trilby. More at citations.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary 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.