KINGPINS Synonyms: 120 Similar and Opposite Words

kingpins

noun

plural of kingpin

as in heavyweights

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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as in leaders

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of kingpins Premiering in 2002, the crime drama depicted life on the streets of Baltimore with uncompromising realism, following a sprawling cast of characters from police officers to drug kingpins. —

Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 2 June 2026 The life-and-death stakes were raised when the former high school series jumped five years to show a now-young adult Rue becoming a drug mule and working for rival kingpins (Martha Kelly’s Laurie also took her own life in the finale). —

Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 1 June 2026 The notorious hotspot, now a luxury property, was a fave hangout of violent kingpins, hard-living celebs, dirty cops and crooked politicians. —

Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 22 May 2026 New concepts abound as TV-news kingpins work to meet younger viewers in new environments. —

Brian Steinberg, Variety, 19 May 2026 Just when the officers come up with a plan to arrest Carter and Hakan for their respective drug empires, the kingpins start to become suspicious of their team members and become convinced that they've been infiltrated. —

Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 12 May 2026 Cambodia passed unprecedented legislation Monday imposing life imprisonment for scam kingpins as the nation vows to eliminate cyber fraud operations by month’s end. —

Sopheng Cheang, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2026 The legislation also ignores the reality that as the kingpins in the SEC and Big Ten have gotten really rich, the other leagues have seen healthy returns and profits as well at roughly the same pace. —

Stephen Moore, Boston Herald, 5 Mar. 2026 In Culiacan, in neighboring Sinaloa state, home to a cartel of the same name, there is a cemetery known for its luxury crypts and mausoleums for one-time kingpins like Ignacio Coronel - an old associate of El Mencho - and Arturo Beltrán Leyva. —

CBS News, 3 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for kingpins

Noun

South Korea’s Kospi recently hit an all-time high, but the index appears to be overly reliant on two heavyweights — Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — according to BTIG analyst Jonathan Krinsky in a note.

— Justina Lee, CNBC, 28 May 2026
For a group of British retail heavyweights, the government’s move to close a tax loophole on low-value goods from overseas by 2029 would come too little, too late.

— Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 28 May 2026