custodian
Americannoun
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custodians
plural
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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:
Instead, the beneficiaries typically work directly with the IRA custodian, which transfers their respective shares into inherited IRAs or otherwise distributes the assets according to the applicable rules.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
“I think you have a few moments in life where you have the opportunity to own an asset and really be a custodian of something that should be multigenerational and iconic,” he said then.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The 21-year-old custodian was the Lightning Lane manager for his group of 19 extended family members—nearly twice the limit that can be managed on a single device.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
English Heritage has also acquired a collection of 800 historical postcards of Dover Castle, which were collated by the site's former head custodian.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
“From the nineteen sixties. You know—the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mr. Lyons’s grandfather was the custodian back then and told him all about it. The entrance is in the custodian’s closet.”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
The July 2024 final regulations confirmed this applies to all of your IRAs on an aggregated basis, even when they sit at different custodians.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
For soil scientist Andy Gregory, who helps oversee Rothamsted's long-term experiments, being one of the current custodians of Park Grass is "an incredible privilege".
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
"The fishermen are the custodians of these places," Seidu said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Others are uneasy about storing crypto themselves, working with unfamiliar third-party custodians or navigating a market many financial advisers still avoid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
She thought they were probably custodians planning the summer renovations.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
