1
as in heavyweight
one of high position or importance within a group
a police sting that nabbed several kingpins of the city's drug trade
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in leader
the person (as an employer or supervisor) who tells people and especially workers what to do
finally nailed the mob kingpin who had been controlling all the gambling rackets in the city
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of kingpin
Inside the Carnage maze, visitors pass through the warehouse and enter a security room where the clown kingpin urges them to join him now — or die.
—
Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 25 Sep. 2025
The docuseries explores the rise and fall of Redondo Beach native Owen Hanson, from walk-on to the National Championship-winning USC football team to cocaine kingpin for one of the world’s most dangerous cartels.
—Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 20 Sep. 2025
Another 22 billionaires returned to the ranking after dropping off the list in a previous year, including crypto kingpins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and stock trading app Robinhood’s Baiju Bhatt.
—Thomas Gallagher, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
This week, Drake stokes the anticipation for his next album with a new track featuring Cash Cobain, psych-pop kingpin Tame Impala floats back into our world, and Lady Gaga dances with the dead.
—Rolling Stone, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for kingpin
Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 25 Sep. 2025
The docuseries explores the rise and fall of Redondo Beach native Owen Hanson, from walk-on to the National Championship-winning USC football team to cocaine kingpin for one of the world’s most dangerous cartels.
—Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 20 Sep. 2025
Another 22 billionaires returned to the ranking after dropping off the list in a previous year, including crypto kingpins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and stock trading app Robinhood’s Baiju Bhatt.
—Thomas Gallagher, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
This week, Drake stokes the anticipation for his next album with a new track featuring Cash Cobain, psych-pop kingpin Tame Impala floats back into our world, and Lady Gaga dances with the dead.
—Rolling Stone, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for kingpin
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kingpin
Noun
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The Tigers blocked a field goal as time expired to put an exclamation point on a signature win against a 4A heavyweight.—
Matt Schubert,
Denver Post,
26 Sep. 2025
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This fall's live music scene is stacked full of hip-hop heavyweights and soulful R&B artists.—
Maria Leontaras,
Nashville Tennessean,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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After being repeatedly condemned as a war criminal by other world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly's current meeting in New York, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have his turn speaking on the world stage on Friday.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
26 Sep. 2025
-
CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business.—
Jordan Blum,
Fortune,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
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In February, Mayor Harrell, at the behest of local heavies such as Amazon and Microsoft, led the opposition to a referendum on another tax on those companies which would help pay for public, mixed-income housing in a city that desperately needs it.—
Bill McKibben,
New Yorker,
23 Sep. 2025
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And when Sam cooks up a truly stupid scheme to make some quick cash, there’s little doubt a heavy like Mickey isn’t going to like it.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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For some entrepreneurs, becoming their own boss was a no-brainer.—
Ashton Jackson,
CNBC,
28 Sep. 2025
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Matthew Lillard wants to reunite with Scooby–Doo scribe and DC Studios boss James Gunn on a new project.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
28 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Thompson and Jirak also have potential as playmaking bigs who could be dangerous in the pick-and-roll.—
CJ Moore,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
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Making things sweeter, Stubbs was called to the bigs on the same day his brother Garrett, who has played in 192 major league games over six seasons with the Astros and Phillies, was called up to the big leagues by Philadelphia.—
John Maffei,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Melchor was a foreman on a sugarcane plantation, and Luisa was a laundress.—
Christopher Rudolph,
PEOPLE,
23 Sep. 2025
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Mike, now played with a friendly glower by the bald and barrel-chested Chiklis, is a construction-site foreman, married for decades to Eileen (Mary Stuart Masterson), with several grown children.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Known as the Uplands Mansion, the palatial home was built in 1917 for the grandson for railroad magnate Charles Crocker.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
29 Sep. 2025
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Putin was portrayed as an unsightly troll, who, by an act of magic—a spell cast by the puppet version of Boris Berezovsky, the magnate who helped engineer his rise to the Presidency—comes to appear beautiful and virtuous, the subject of great adulation and deference.—
Joshua Yaffa,
New Yorker,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Bettany played English poet and writer Geoffrey Chaucer in the medieval action-comedy, which starred Ledger as William Thatcher, a peasant squire, fueled by his desire for food and glory, who forges a new identity for himself as a knight when his master dies.—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Sep. 2025
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The show, starring Ricardo Gómez and Óscar Jaenada, explores the friendship between a shy young man preparing for the application tests for public office while working as a part-time taxi driver and a master bullfighter.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Kingpin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kingpin. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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