stakeholder
Americannoun
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a person or group owning a significant percentage of a company's shares
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a person or group not owning shares in an enterprise but affected by or having an interest in its operations, such as the employees, customers, local community, etc
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stakeholder
Explanation
A stakeholder is a person interested in a company. If you become CEO of a big company, you'll have to keep the interests of every stakeholder in mind, from the employees to the customers to the investors, whenever you make decisions. Supposedly people used to gamble by putting their money on a wooden stake, and a person called a stakeholder who wasn't involved in the betting would supervise to make sure everything was fair. No one uses wooden stakes anymore, but we still call the person who holds the money and monitors the betting the stakeholder, and people often use stake to mean "risk," or "investment." That's why someone who is invested in a business is also called a stakeholder.
Vocabulary lists containing stakeholder
Academic Vocabulary and Literary Terms, Unit 5
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Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 4-7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It has since been revised by a stakeholder group of farmers, agri-food representatives, conservationists and environmental groups.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Alongside scientific analysis, the project will produce policy briefings and bring together regulators, environmental organisations and policymakers through a dedicated stakeholder workshop hosted at UEL's Royal Docks Centre for Sustainability.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
Prominent money manager Bill Smead, whose firm has been an eBay stakeholder for nearly 20 years, is skeptical, too.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
Attorneys representing Purdue, the Sackler family and other stakeholder groups, including victims, began months of confidential mediations.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
Social capital usually means emotional support and encouragement from a reliable stakeholder in one’s life, an asset commonly associated with marriage that is itself a form of wealth.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Oftentimes in sports, minority stakeholders in franchises acquire a controlling share of the team in subsequent years.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Manipal’s stock on Wednesday jumped 11% after raising 92.75 billion rupees, equivalent to $975.4 million, from its IPO and share sale by existing stakeholders, including Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
It's an idea with distinctly limited support among F1's stakeholders.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
For Ravasi, the biggest challenge lies in "just convincing the stakeholders, government and politicians that climate change is happening, and we need to stop it immediately".
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
To minimize this imbalance, potential participants in corrupt dealings must be made to feel that they are real and effective stakeholders in their societies.
From Crime and Corruption by Samuel Vaknin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
