Meaning & use
mogul
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Meanings
nouncountable
A very rich and powerful person, especially one who controls a large part of a particular industry.
Grammar: Countable: use a/an or a plural, as in a mogul, several moguls.
Patterns
- a movie mogul
- a media mogul
- a business mogul
The studio was bought by a Hollywood mogul who had started out selling popcorn.
She became a media mogul after turning one small radio station into a national network.
Local business moguls gathered at the hotel for the annual awards dinner.
nouncountabletechnicalsport
A bump or mound of hard-packed snow on a ski slope.
Grammar: Usually plural (moguls) when talking about the bumpy surface of a ski run.
Patterns
- ski the moguls
- a field of moguls
The expert run was covered in moguls that made my legs ache.
He skied the moguls smoothly, keeping his weight forward the whole way down.
Word forms
| plural | moguls |
|---|
Common combinations
- a media mogul
- The media mogul owns three newspapers and two TV channels.
- a business mogul
- Business moguls from across Asia attended the summit.
- a movie mogul
- A movie mogul offered her a contract on the spot.
- a shipping mogul
- The shipping mogul built his fortune in the port trade.
- ski the moguls
- Only advanced skiers should try to ski the moguls at that speed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tycoon
- Almost the same meaning, but tycoon often suggests wealth won through trade or industry, while mogul stresses control over an industry.
- magnate
- A more formal word for a powerful business owner; use magnate in serious news writing, mogul in general conversation.
- baron
- Similar, but baron is often used in fixed phrases like press baron and carries a slightly old-fashioned, dramatic feel.
Word family
- Mogul proper noun
- A member of the Muslim dynasty that ruled India from the 16th to the 19th century.
Commonly confused: mogul or moggle? mogul or muggle?
mogul vs moggle
Not a real English word; learners sometimes write it by mistake. The correct spelling is mogul.
mogul vs muggle
A different word, made famous by the Harry Potter books, meaning a person without magical powers.
Practice
The newspaper was sold to a media ______ who already owned two television networks.
Choose one answer.
"Mogul" means a powerful person in an industry, which fits someone buying a newspaper and owning TV networks. "Muggle" means a non-magical person, and "moggie" is a British word for a cat, so neither fits the business context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mogul”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.