Synonyms
Examples of influential in a Sentence
Adjective
His theories have become more influential in recent years.
My parents have been the most influential people in my life.
Recent Examples on the Web
Dan Lamothe, Washington Post, 11 Apr. 2024
Advertisement After their recording session, LeBrun passed Biggie’s demo tape along to a contact at the Source, landing the rapper in the magazine’s influential Unsigned Hype column.
—Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
The Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn native born Calvin LeBrun has been an influential figure in hip-hop since the onset of his career.
—Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 10 Apr. 2024
VanDerveer, the winningest Division 1 college basketball coach of all time, announced her retirement on Tuesday, ending one of the greatest and most influential coaching careers in any sport.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 10 Apr. 2024
Heri agrees, noting that the ECHR is viewed globally as a highly influential international court.
—Chris Baraniuk, WIRED, 9 Apr. 2024
Baby boomers, a large and influential cohort that was only recently surpassed by millennials in terms of size, started retiring in 2011.
—Tim Fries, Fortune, 9 Apr. 2024
The influential Democrat, said there is enough time for those disturbed by the staggering humanitarian crisis in the Gaza to further pressure the president to shift course, including putting strict conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel when there are human rights violations.
—USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2024
While the number of female CEOs slowly but steadily inch upward in the U.S., the Asia-Pacific region is also home to more and more influential female business leaders.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2024
Vanda Felbab-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2017
The pattern began in the Russian leader’s earliest days, when Boris A. Berezovsky, an oligarch influential in Mr. Putin’s rise, ran afoul of him and fled, treated for years as a public enemy before his death in Britain in 2013 under murky circumstances.
—Paul Sonne, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2023
As the president of Hillsdale College in Michigan, a small school influential in modern conservative thought, Arnn had grown accustomed to books and letters from Republican strivers.
—Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2022
But in the two months since the law went into effect, many of the biggest ticket marketplaces in the live industry aren’t following the new law, a state senator influential in its passing says.
—Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 7 Nov. 2022
Turcer, whose organization is part of a speaker’s bureau in which people talk about the judiciary across the state to increase interest in the influential but often overlooked branch, doesn’t completely write off the Republican justices’ concerns.
—cleveland, 9 May 2022
Most of them were coached by Brewer, a former Negro Leagues star who became an influential — if often overlooked — part of baseball’s history.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2022
Opposing the legislation is the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA), which is another powerful organization influential in Montgomery.
—al, 22 Dec. 2021
For the influential and the politically connected, an empty Carbone’s is a sign of an era passing.
—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 9 Dec. 2021
Adjective
In 2020, following an American drone strike that killed influential Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani, Tehran launched ballistic missiles at a base in western Iraq housingU.S. forces.
—Dan Lamothe, Washington Post, 11 Apr. 2024
Advertisement After their recording session, LeBrun passed Biggie’s demo tape along to a contact at the Source, landing the rapper in the magazine’s influential Unsigned Hype column.
—Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
The Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn native born Calvin LeBrun has been an influential figure in hip-hop since the onset of his career.
—Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 10 Apr. 2024
VanDerveer, the winningest Division 1 college basketball coach of all time, announced her retirement on Tuesday, ending one of the greatest and most influential coaching careers in any sport.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 10 Apr. 2024
Heri agrees, noting that the ECHR is viewed globally as a highly influential international court.
—Chris Baraniuk, WIRED, 9 Apr. 2024
Baby boomers, a large and influential cohort that was only recently surpassed by millennials in terms of size, started retiring in 2011.
—Tim Fries, Fortune, 9 Apr. 2024
The influential Democrat, said there is enough time for those disturbed by the staggering humanitarian crisis in the Gaza to further pressure the president to shift course, including putting strict conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel when there are human rights violations.
—USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2024
While the number of female CEOs slowly but steadily inch upward in the U.S., the Asia-Pacific region is also home to more and more influential female business leaders.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2024
Noun
To secure support from the elders and influentials, potential parliamentarians were reputed to have paid tens of thousands of dollars for a vote.
—Vanda Felbab-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2017
The pattern began in the Russian leader’s earliest days, when Boris A. Berezovsky, an oligarch influential in Mr. Putin’s rise, ran afoul of him and fled, treated for years as a public enemy before his death in Britain in 2013 under murky circumstances.
—Paul Sonne, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2023
As the president of Hillsdale College in Michigan, a small school influential in modern conservative thought, Arnn had grown accustomed to books and letters from Republican strivers.
—Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2022
But in the two months since the law went into effect, many of the biggest ticket marketplaces in the live industry aren’t following the new law, a state senator influential in its passing says.
—Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 7 Nov. 2022
Turcer, whose organization is part of a speaker’s bureau in which people talk about the judiciary across the state to increase interest in the influential but often overlooked branch, doesn’t completely write off the Republican justices’ concerns.
—cleveland, 9 May 2022
Most of them were coached by Brewer, a former Negro Leagues star who became an influential — if often overlooked — part of baseball’s history.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2022
Opposing the legislation is the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA), which is another powerful organization influential in Montgomery.
—al, 22 Dec. 2021
For the influential and the politically connected, an empty Carbone’s is a sign of an era passing.
—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 9 Dec. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'influential.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Dictionary Entries Near influential
Cite this Entry
“Influential.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/influential. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
influential
adjective
in·flu·en·tial
ˌin-(ˌ)flü-ˈen-chəl
: having influence
influentially
adverb
-ˈench-(ə-)lē
More from Merriam-Webster on influential
Nglish: Translation of influential for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of influential for Arabic Speakers
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