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 camp, Bundini was a factotum who did everything for his charge.
    — Gordon Marino, WSJ, 3 Sep. 2020
  • The burly bureaucrat in dark slacks and a navy sweater has a scruffy beard and the frazzled look of an anonymous factotum thrust into the limelight.
    — Joshua Hunt, Vanity Fair, 17 June 2026
  • Baldwin, a celebrity factotum, is equally adept at playing himself.
    — The Washington Post, The Denver Post, 6 Apr. 2017
  • 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
  • Ironically, a hiring surge of factotums has helped push San Diego to the financial brink.
    — Kate Callen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Jan. 2026
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Kennedy was named for Eddie Moore, a longtime family factotum (and sometime procurer for Joe).
    — Edward Kosner, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2020
  • The longtime Clinton factotum Lanny Davis devoted a book to the argument.
    — Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 13 Nov. 2020
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Having thus proved his usefulness — and that there’s no task too lowly for this factotum to unquestioningly carry out — Henri is duly hired and suddenly his fortunes are on the rise.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 20 May 2026
  • 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
  • Without strict enforcement of RIF rules, management factotums would be given safe harbor, and workers who only serve the public would be sacrificed.
    — Kate Callen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Jan. 2026
  • The Enterprise crew are military factotums like those in Graff’s book—their sometimes rigid adherence to protocol means they can barely be trusted to talk to other humans, let alone to extraterrestrials.
    — Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 16 Oct. 2023
  • The complex is carefully maintained, right down to the large outdoor pool into which housekeeper/chef/doggedly loyal factotum Angela (Vera Barreto) is sluicing chlorine as the film opens.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Feb. 2023
  • 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
  • As one of its first moves in the partnership, Microsoft impressed the developer world by releasing Copilot, an AI factotum that automates certain elements of coding.
    — WIRED, 13 June 2023
  • Scorsese reshaped the film’s narrative around DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart, who makes for an unconventional lead — a spineless factotum, alternately loving and loathsome.
    — Vulture, 20 Oct. 2023
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'factotum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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