insider
Americannoun
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insiders
plural
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a person who is a member of a group, organization, society, etc.
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a person belonging to a limited circle of persons who understand the actual facts in a situation or share private knowledge.
Insiders knew that the president would veto the bill.
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a person who has some special advantage or influence.
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a person in possession of corporate information not generally available to the public, as a director, an accountant, or other officer or employee of a corporation.
noun
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a member of a specified group
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a person with access to exclusive information
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of insider
Explanation
An insider is someone, usually one of a small group, who has access to secret or private information. A political insider knows what really goes on behind the scenes in a campaign or a senator's office. In a large company, insiders are privy to financial information or details about the way things work — information that isn't available to an ordinary employee or the general public. In the financial world, an insider knows things about the businesses whose stock is being traded, and "insider trading" is when they illicitly use this information for personal gain.
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:
But readers are not powerless, an industry insider says.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
So far, unlocked insider shares haven’t weighed too heavily on the stock.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
United Nations insider Rebeca Grynspan was leading after the first round of the process.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Fraud, a greater value placed on insider knowledge, and a longer shelf life for bad corporate strategy would be “bogies of the slower reporting cycle,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
But even the way he says it, I can tell he is an insider in a way that few others are.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
While some employees may lightly trim their stakes as more shares are unlocked, Mills thinks many insiders will likely hold out for bigger gains.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
As insiders recount it, the deal sounds deceptively simple.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Similarly, longtime HSI insiders cautioned that using the agency’s databases and tools to search these lists would yield mismatches and wildly inflated results.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
BBC Sport's Chelsea reporter Nizaar Kinsella says insiders insist the chance will be gone and Fernandez will stay until next summer, if City do not make their move on Friday.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
“I really looked down on people who had done that,” he said of insiders who leaked secrets.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
