lobbyist
Americannoun
-
lobbyists
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lobbyist
Explanation
A lobbyist is someone hired by a business or a cause to persuade legislators to support that business or cause. Lobbyists get paid to win favor from politicians. For example, oil companies send lobbyists to Washington to try to make life easier for oil companies. Sometimes they do it by making a great case for their cause, but often it involves fancy dinners and golf outings. If that sounds kind of shady, it is. But remember that women's rights groups and cancer research foundations have lobbyists, too — it's just one way to get your voice heard on the Hill.
Vocabulary lists containing lobbyist
100 Top "SAT" Words
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U.S. Government Lingo
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Vocabulary from President Trump's First Address to Congress
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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:
The candidate is linked to — but not accused of any wrongdoing in — a corruption case involving two former advisors and a lobbyist who siphoned $225,000 money from one of Becerra’s campaign accounts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Days before the party, he officially registered as a lobbyist for Kalshi, according to a disclosure form.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Harborne was also a registered named lobbyist at the European Parliament for the Digital Currencies Governance Group, for which Tether was a founder member, for seven months from September 2020.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
"I think this is still a very big, great experiment and everybody's still trying to figure out what that means to them," the lobbyist told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
He hadn’t gotten where he was without certain lobbyist gifts.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
In July, as scrutiny of the outbreak intensified, company executives and lobbyists met privately with the White House.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
In addition, Carvalho received “gifts from contractors and lobbyists beyond the limits permitted by law,” the letter alleged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Creditor lobbyists complain that debtors use bankruptcy to renege on their obligations, while consumer groups blame exploitative lending practices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
At the Fed, bank lobbyists pushing for lighter small-bank regulation have won an influential ally: Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, the Fed’s top bank regulator, for whom community banking is personal.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
The pro-suffrage lobbyists used a more subtle approach.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
