bankroll
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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bankrolls,
present (3rd person singular)
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bankrolled,
past participle, past
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bankrolling
present participle
noun
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a roll of currency notes
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the financial resources of a person, organization, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bankrollsimple
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bankrollssimple
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have bankrolledperfect
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has bankrolledperfect
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am bankrollingprogressive
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are bankrollingprogressive
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is bankrollingprogressive
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have been bankrollingperfect progressive
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has been bankrollingperfect progressive
Past
-
bankrolledsimple
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had bankrolledperfect
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was bankrollingprogressive
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were bankrollingprogressive
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had been bankrollingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bankroll
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:
And once Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises bankroll their respective super-squads’ fortified headquarters, they attract the universe’s talent.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
After surviving an attempted ouster two years prior, chief Sam Altman had carved OpenAI into his nascent industry’s undisputed king and hitched himself closely to the much wealthier Microsoft to bankroll growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The company has long relied on this high-yielding equity as its primary engine to bankroll Bitcoin acquisitions—a strategy that backfires when the shares lose ground.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
Mejia said Sokoloff’s mother — married to Jonathan Sokoloff, managing partner of private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners — was trying to bankroll the seat for her son.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
With this bankroll, he was able to purchase and outfit a three-masted, coal-powered barkentine called Polaris from a Norwegian firm that specialized in polar vessels.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Limited financial resources require them to act more disciplined than teams with giant bankrolls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
It might seem wise to make room for smaller bankrolls in the city—the soul of Las Vegas is contingent on budget travelers—but those appeals are invariably ignored.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025
In past years, this tiny desert nation has captured outsized attention largely because of the splashy real estate projects it bankrolls with proceeds from the world’s largest gas field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
The American-based PGA Tour, Europe's DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV, surprised the golfing world last June when they announced a "framework agreement" to merge interests.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024
What’s more, she had seen off these “Calibans of brute strength, enormous bankrolls and stupendous power” using only “Nature’s greatest resource, a radiant intellect.”
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Hewlett bankrolled ELI’s 2018 workshops at Tianjin University, which was later placed on the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Amazon has also bankrolled a Manhattan Beach production services company, Innovative Dream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
The attacks in the Red Sea that reshaped global shipping over the past month were partly bankrolled this way, too.
From Barron's ● Apr. 18, 2026
JD Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, during a time when he was being heavily bankrolled by esoteric Catholic billionaire Peter Thiel.
From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2026
Several Nigerian businessmen are alleged to have bankrolled huge spending sprees, including more than £2m at luxury store Harrods and £4.6m on refurbishing homes in London and Buckinghamshire.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
A little-used Federal Reserve backstop built for the 2020 dollar shortage is being put to a use it was never designed for: bankrolling Japan’s defense of the yen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
The decision by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to stop bankrolling LIV Golf at the end of the season has plunged the future of the breakaway series into doubt.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
The members hugged him back, from bankrolling his college tuition to sending him generous gifts when he retired in 2013 and donations when his beloved wife, Cheryl, died in 2020 after suffering a massive stroke.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
This situation leaves open the question of whether the public has a right to know who is bankrolling a nonprofit’s activity.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2025
“Don’t even worry about it. I’m bankrolling this operation.”
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
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.
