stage-manage

American  

[steyj-man-ij] / ˈsteɪdʒˌmæn ɪdʒ /

verb (used with object)

stage-managed, stage-managing

1. to work as a stage manager for.

   When he wasn't acting, he stage-managed a repertory theater.

2. to arrange or stage in order to produce a theatrical or spectacular effect.

   The clients were most impressed with the way she stage-managed the whole presentation.

3. to arrange or direct unobtrusively or in secret.

   He stage-managed Mediterranean black-market operations from his secluded villa on the Riviera.

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verb (used without object)

stage-managed, stage-managing

1. to work as a stage manager.

stage-manage British  

verb

1. to work as stage manager for (a play, etc)

2. (tr) to arrange, present, or supervise from behind the scenes

   to stage-manage a campaign

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Etymology

Origin of stage-manage

First recorded in 1875–80; back formation from stage manager

Example Sentences

Thelma’s fakery has a modern-day echo in Lori Loughlin’s efforts to stage-manage her influencer daughter’s passage into USC; no matter how high up the class ladder you are, there’s always another rung.

From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2020

They speak to the living and stage-manage events from the grave.

From Fox News • Mar. 23, 2019

In the later hours, your ability to stage-manage yourself gets weaker, your ability to hold it together starts to erode.

From New York Times • Sep. 5, 2018

That might be a refreshing change from past administration efforts to stage-manage everything from the White House.

From Washington Post • Jan. 14, 2017

For the rest, Hurree could so stage-manage the journey through the hills that Hilas, Bunar, and four hundred miles of hill-roads should tell the tale for a generation.

From Kim by Kipling, Rudyard