partner
Americannoun
-
partners
plural
-
a person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor; sharer; associate.
- Synonyms:
- accomplice, accessory, colleague
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Law.
-
a person associated with another or others as a principal or a contributor of capital in a business or a joint venture, usually sharing its risks and profits.
-
-
a spouse; a husband or a wife.
-
the person with whom one cohabits in a romantic relationship.
I'd like you to meet my partner, Sarah.
-
either of two people who dance together.
my favorite partner in the waltz.
-
a player on the same side or team as another.
My tennis partner was an excellent player.
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Nautical. partners, a framework of timber round a hole in a ship's deck, to support a mast, capstan, pump, etc.
verb (used with object)
-
partners,
present (3rd person singular)
-
partnered,
past participle, past
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partnering
present participle
-
to associate as a partner or partners with.
-
to serve as the partner of.
noun
-
an ally or companion
a partner in crime
-
a member of a partnership
-
one of a pair of dancers or players on the same side in a game
my bridge partner
-
either member of a couple in a relationship
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
partnersimple
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partnerssimple
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have partneredperfect
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has partneredperfect
-
am partneringprogressive
-
are partneringprogressive
-
is partneringprogressive
-
have been partneringperfect progressive
-
has been partneringperfect progressive
Past
-
partneredsimple
-
had partneredperfect
-
was partneringprogressive
-
were partneringprogressive
-
had been partneringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of partner
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English partener, alteration of parcener by association with part
Explanation
If you open a lemonade stand with your brother, then your brother is your business partner. Partner means "to pair up." At a square dance, the call "partner up!" means it's time to find someone to dance with. In business, there are often multiple partners — each one owns a share of the business, and has a share of the risk. Some people call their spouse or the person they're in a long-term relationship with their partner — it has more egalitarian senses than "husband" or "wife," and signals commitment even if you're not married.
Vocabulary lists containing partner
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act I
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Relationships
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Chapter 20: The Industrial Age
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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:
In a victim impact statement, Powles's partner, Tina Biltcliffe, told the court they had been due to get married six days after the fatal fight, and had planned to announce the news in the pub.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Speaking in Berlin on the same day, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider of junior coalition partner the centre-left SPD offered a radically different vision, centred on restoring rivers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Iger will likely be the more active partner in managing the Lakers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
For the Saudis and Turks, Pakistan’s professional army and status as the only nuclear-armed Muslim-majority nation make it an attractive partner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
I drop the other mail in the kitchen before following my new business partner into a small room down the hall.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
No matter how many cities visited, career paths pursued, or partners endured, a person’s core traits remain the same.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
In 2012, on the day after Mark Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers, I sat next to Walter in a conference room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The company, which uses data analytics to connect specialty insurance underwriters with risk capital partners, said it has formed a special independent committee to review the transaction, which it unanimously recommended to the board.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Chester Zoo conservationists are working with partners to protect wild babirusa populations through the Action Indonesia Global Species Management Plans.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
James Scymanky, a logger who had been working in the area around Mount St. Helens during the eruption, had managed to survive while the three partners who were with him that morning died.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
Harbor partnered with Acadian to design and launch the fund in March 2019.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
And Meta Platforms just partnered with BlackRock for an off-balance-sheet financing for a new data center in Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Most of them were not partnered and weren’t sure they wanted to be single mothers.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
Reformation opened its first international stores in Toronto and London in 2019, when it partnered with private equity firm Permira to further scale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
It was dull work, made even duller on the days I was partnered with a fellow named Reggie, an alleged genius unhappy with the course his life had taken.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Western automakers are partnering with Chinese counterparts to access technology and cut costs as Chinese-made cars gain market share.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
“We’re excited to deepen our relationship with YouTube through a collaboration that reflects our strategy of partnering with industry leaders to drive sustained growth for NBCUniversal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The partnering company would lose too, Zhu noted — just perhaps not quite as much.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
It has met that goal on an annualized basis since 2020, according to its website, by partnering with renewable energy providers on long-term power purchase agreements.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
“I’m thinking of partnering with him. Seems like working for yourself might be the way to go these days.”
From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks
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.
