How to Use factotum in a Sentence

factotum

noun

• He was the office factotum.
• Of course, there was no need for Rahm to fear Claypool, who's been a loyal factotum for years.
  — Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader, 13 Dec. 2017
• In a nutshell, this figure of speech fits Detroit Tigers reliever Buck Farmer, the factotum of the bullpen.
  — Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 20 Feb. 2021
• And in the there-are-no-small-parts department, as Devon, Jules' factotum and foil, Eva Nimmer is more heard than seen.
  — Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 19 Nov. 2022
• The pecking order was the chief of staff, then the secretary, then the longtime driver-factotum—and finally me.
  — Karl Rove, WSJ, 4 Dec. 2018
• To woo Rosina, Almaviva hires Figaro, the town’s factotum (a jack-of-all-trades) who is the doctor’s barber and wig stylist.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Apr. 2021
• In camp, Bundini was a factotum who did everything for his charge.
  — Gordon Marino, WSJ, 3 Sep. 2020
• In early 1929, only a few months after the young Doheny family moved in, Ned and his friend and factotum, Hugh Plunkett, were both shot and killed in a guest bedroom.
  — Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2022
• PiS, via its factotums in the state media, will exploit this quandary to the hilt, presenting itself as the only party that can be trusted to preserve Polish sovereignty.
  — The Economist, 20 Dec. 2017
• Beach would become not only the main inspiration for the Arrow Collar Man but also the studio’s factotum and Joe’s life partner.
  — Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 12 June 2017
• Nonconforming bowel movements were reported in a tremulous voice so that menus had to be changed and Nicholas, the cook and general factotum, sent to the chemist for milk of magnesia.
  — Lynn Freed, Harper's magazine, 10 Mar. 2019
• Through it all, John’s younger brother, Will—a plump, colorless, diligent numbers man—served as his long-suffering factotum.
  — Bryan Burrough, WSJ, 13 Aug. 2017
• The longtime Clinton factotum Lanny Davis devoted a book to the argument.
  — Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 13 Nov. 2020
• Kennedy was named for Eddie Moore, a longtime family factotum (and sometime procurer for Joe).
  — Edward Kosner, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2020
• On Friday Beijing’s local factotum used the pandemic as an excuse to postpone elections for a year, and dissenters are being arrested or fired.
  — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2020
• Baldwin, a celebrity factotum, is equally adept at playing himself.
  — The Washington Post, The Denver Post, 6 Apr. 2017
• That was Allen Toussaint, the elegant, nattily attired musical factotum who crafted some of the most memorable tunes to spring from New Orleans, first as a composer and writer, and later as a performer in his own right.
  — Mike Scott, NOLA.com, 4 May 2018
• As the Washington Post reported in 2016, these factotums have miraculously appeared in the press to defend Trump’s business exploits and vaunt his romantic desirability.
  — Katy Waldman, Slate Magazine, 2 May 2017
• Pulling the curtain through the years is Atung (Glenn Obrero), a figure who exists somewhere between spectacle and narrator, authorial representative and stagehand, factotum and moral conscience.
  — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 16 May 2022
• Francesca, one of her former students, works tirelessly as Lydia’s factotum, amanuensis, and personal assistant, in the expectation of becoming her assistant conductor in Berlin.
  — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2022
• Which is why Claude Taylor, a former minor factotum in the Clinton administration, is seeking to pepper the districts of vulnerable Republican lawmakers with anti-incumbent billboard messages.
  — OregonLive.com, 17 Jan. 2018

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024