partnership
Americannoun
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partnerships
plural
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the state or condition of being a partner; participation; association; joint interest.
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Law.
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the relation subsisting between partners.
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the contract creating this relation.
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an association of persons joined as partners in business.
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noun
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a contractual relationship between two or more persons carrying on a joint business venture with a view to profit, each incurring liability for losses and the right to share in the profits
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the deed creating such a relationship
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the persons associated in such a relationship
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the state or condition of being a partner
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of partnership
Explanation
What do Lewis and Clark, Bonnie and Clyde, and Ben and Jerry have in common? They all formed partnerships — cooperative relationships where they worked as a team to reach a goal, whether it was robbing banks or inventing Cherry Garcia. It’s easy to spot partner hidden inside partnership. That should clue you in to the fact the word is all about the deal sealed between two or more people, groups, or even countries that agree to throw their lot in together to achieve something both want. A partnership can be a legal business relationship sealed by a contract or a casual handshake-driven agreement between friends. A marriage is a partnership. So is a corporate merger.
Vocabulary lists containing partnership
Economics
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 5
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This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for December 12–18, 2020
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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:
More recently, though, Qatar Investment Authority has shifted into “new economy sectors,” having made a major investment in Anthropic and signed a $25 billion tech partnership with Goldman Sachs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Earlier this year it entered into a strategic partnership with radio giants Global, with the aim to create a multi-format sports media network.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
The partnership comes after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay earlier this month calling for a slowdown in the development of leading-edge AI models.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
When he was hired in January, the prevailing thought was that the cerebral partnership between McDaniel and Herbert would prove a perfect match.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Chacko had it registered as a partnership and informed Mammachi that she was the Sleeping Partner.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
AST’s finance chief said on the same call that the company was looking for ways to better secure access to orbit, including by striking partnerships or even buying rocket technology for its own use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
They formed partnerships with the British American Football Association, British Universities and Colleges Sport and the Jacksonville Jaguars to establish links with the grassroots game in the UK.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Cisco developed partnerships with hyperscalers to build systems for their data centers and started investing in optical technologies and chips.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
In past vetoes, he said such programs could undermine partnerships community colleges have built with CSU and other universities that already award the degrees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
This was yet another consequence of turning Wall Street partnerships into public corporations: It turned them into objects of speculation.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
