custodian
Americannoun
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a person who has custody; keeper; guardian.
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a person entrusted with guarding or maintaining a property; janitor.
noun
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a person who has custody, as of a prisoner, ward, etc
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a guardian or keeper, as of an art collection, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of custodian
1775–85; < Latin custōdi ( a ) watchman ( see custody) + -an
Compare meaning
How does custodian compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
You may know the custodian at your school — the person who's in charge of taking care of the building, in keeping it clean, making sure the heat works, and the roof doesn't leak. The word custodian comes from Latin custos, meaning "guardian," and anyone who looks after something can be a custodian. You might be the custodian of your club's records — you take care of the files and keep them up to date. Or you could be the custodian of the crown jewels — you hold the keys to the treasury and it's your job to make sure the jewels don't get lost or stolen.
Vocabulary lists containing custodian
Frindle
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Unit 1: Ecological Systems
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Awkward
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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 is not the job or duty of the custodian to figure out what the asset is worth.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall said Monday that she felt "confident that Sky will be a strong and responsible custodian of ITV M&E, building on its heritage while investing in its future".
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Neon is a perfect custodian for this film, and they will shepherd it to the big screen, I think very effectively,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
When Turner acquired MGM’s library, along with Warner Bros.’ pre-1948 titles, he also became a custodian of American cinematic history, whether he intended to or not.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
The custodian and the taxi driver lug the trunks to Mrs. Johnson's office.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Starting around 2015, the IRS told account custodians to report on illiquid investments in customer IRAs on annual tax filings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The majority no longer treats cloud providers primarily as recipients of information and instead recognizes how they increasingly resemble custodians of a person’s digital papers and effects.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
Yet First Light itself was greenlit under the watch of those former custodians of Bond's legacy.
From BBC ● May 24, 2026
The credit rating agency believes the risk has graduated from a cryptocurrency-specific problem to a broader threat affecting banks and custodians.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
He’s much younger than all the other custodians at Chumley.
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
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.
