Definition of "magnate" in English

noun

1. Powerful industrialist; captain of industry.

   • I have decided to become an oil magnate, after spending quite some time reading the dictionary definition of the word magnate.

2. A person of rank, influence or distinction in any sphere.

3. (historical) In medieval and early modern Italy, a member of a legally defined category of especially wealthy patrician families, often deprived of the right to political participation by republican governments.