kingmaker

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But with a nudge from Rafsanjani, the kingmaker, he was picked by the Assembly of Experts as the new leader.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026

Rupert Murdoch's 70-year career saw him as "both an interventionist editor-in-chief figure and a political kingmaker", according to Paddy Manning, an investigative journalist who wrote The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch.

From BBC • Dec. 23, 2025

During that trip, South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and renowned Democratic kingmaker, told The Times that Newsom would be “a hell of a candidate.”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 8, 2025

No longer will he be the king, much less the kingmaker — and he cannot stand the idea of being irrelevant.

From Salon • Oct. 28, 2025

In later years, I discovered that my father was not only an adviser to kings but a kingmaker.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela