contributor

American  

[kuhn-trib-yuh-ter] / kənˈtrɪb jə tər /

noun

• contributors
  plural

1. a person who contributes money, assistance, etc.

2. a person who contributes an article, story, etc., to a newspaper, magazine, or the like.

---

contributor British  

/ kənˈtrɪbjʊtə /

noun

1. a person who contributes, esp one who writes for a newspaper or one who makes a donation to a cause, etc

2. something that is a factor in or is partly responsible for something

   alcohol was a contributor to his death

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncontributor
  noun
• contributorial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• contributors
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of contributor

1400–50; late Middle English contributour < Anglo-French. See contribute, -tor

---

Explanation

A contributor is someone who takes part in something or makes a contribution. Writers and people who donate money in particular are called contributors. Writers whose work is included in a book, magazine, or newspaper are called contributors. Some have specific titles like "contributing editor" or "contributing writer." If you give money for a cause or a company, that contribution also makes you a contributor. This word is used mainly for writing and donating, but it can be used in other cases for people who help with something. The surest way not to be called a contributor is to do nothing: contributors have to contribute.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

contributor contributors

At 5 feet 8 and 165 pounds, Wickliffe still considers himself a baseball player first but has gotten into football shape and looks ready to be an important contributor in the playoffs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2026

Other measures of labor costs suggest compensation is rising slightly faster, but any way you slice it, labor costs simply aren’t a big contributor to high inflation.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

There were certain areas where it considered that the contributor welfare framework could be further strengthened, and made recommendations in this regard.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

At my polling place in Yonkers, N.Y., just across the northern border of the Bronx, I experienced something similar to what Free Expression contributor Howard Husock described earlier in the day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

I’m afraid I was a contributor to it.”

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee

Gardner writes the bulk of the bathroom guides, covering between 120 and 150 films a year, with help from his sister and a handful of contributors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

To the founders who imagined it, the staff members who built it, the contributors who gave it their voices and the alumni who carried its spirit into the world: Thank you.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

Additional contributors from the University of Iowa included Allison Jaynes, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, along with Jeremy Faden and Chris Piker, who provide research support in the same department.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026

One of the largest contributors to the Yes on Prop 45 committee is a federally recognized tribe, the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, which contributed $750,000.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

The roster of contributors to this work includes many Nobel Prize winners.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• donor
• giver
• patron

---