kingpin

[ king-pin ]

noun

1. Bowling.
   1. headpin.
   2. the pin at the center; the number five pin.
2. Informal. the person of chief importance in a corporation, movement, undertaking, etc.
3. Informal. the chief element of any system, plan, or the like.
4. a kingbolt.
5. either of the pins that are a part of the mechanism for turning the front wheels in some automotive steering systems.

kingpin

/ ˈkɪŋˌpɪn /

noun

1. the most important person in an organization
2. the crucial or most important feature of a theory, argument, etc
3. Also called (Brit)swivel pin a pivot pin that provides a steering joint in a motor vehicle by securing the stub axle to the axle beam
4. tenpin bowling the front pin in the triangular arrangement of the ten pins
5. (in ninepins) the central pin in the diamond pattern of the nine pins

Word History and Origins

Origin of kingpin¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; king + pin

Example Sentences

It said, in so many words, they had been wrongly accused of being “kingpins” and did not deserve their 20-year sentences.

From Los Angeles Times

A lawyer, a kingpin, and his wife walk into a musical, and “Emilia Pérez” is born, Frenchman Jacques Audiard’s full-bodied, colorful epic about transformation, redemption and finding one’s voice in a hard world.

From Los Angeles Times

“She gave us the tools and the weapons to do what we needed to do to go after the kingpins.”

From Los Angeles Times

The kingpin said he traveled to the meeting with a commander in the State Judicial Police of Sinaloa who served as his bodyguard and “who no one has seen or heard from since.”

From Los Angeles Times

Despite more than four decades on the run as one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada had never spent a single night in jail -- until now.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• boss
• company
• corporation
• entrepreneur
• executive
• firm
• management
• manager
• manufacturer
• organization
• owner