promoter

American  

[pruh-moh-ter] / prəˈmoʊ tər /

noun

• promoters
  plural

1. a person or thing that promotes, furthers, or encourages.

2. a person who initiates or takes part in the organizing of a company, development of a project, etc.

3. a person who organizes and provides financial backing for a sporting event or entertainment.

4. Chemistry. any substance that in small amounts is capable of increasing the activity of a catalyst.

5. Also called collector. Metallurgy. a water-repellent reagent enhancing the ability of certain ores to float so that they can be extracted by the flotation process.

6. Genetics.

   1. a site on a DNA molecule at which RNA polymerase binds and initiates transcription.

   2. a gene sequence that activates transcription.

7. Obsolete. an informer.

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promoter British  

/ prəˈməʊtə /

noun

1. a person or thing that promotes

2. a person who helps to organize, develop, or finance an undertaking

3. a person who organizes and finances a sporting event, esp a boxing match

4. chem a substance added in small amounts to a catalyst to increase its activity

5. genetics a sequence of nucleotides, associated with a structural gene, that must bind with messenger RNA polymerase before transcription can proceed

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promoter Scientific  

/ prə-mō′tər /

1. The region of an operon that acts as the initial binding site for RNA polymerase.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-promoter
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• promoters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of promoter

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; promote + -er ¹; replacing earlier promotour, from Anglo-French

Explanation

If you’ve been trying to get anyone and everyone to go see your friend’s band perform, then you could call yourself a promoter of that band. A promoter is a supporter, advocate, or booster for a person, group, or event. A promoter is an active supporter of something. A promoter of democracy, for example, is someone who tries to spread democracy throughout the world. Being a promoter is also a profession; one might be hired to make arrangements and generate publicity for some form of public entertainment, like a boxing match or a concert. Perhaps if you tell enough people about your friend's band, the band will hire you as its official promoter.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

promoter promoters

HBO brought on club promoter and music broadcaster Boiler Room because of its deep roots in nightlife culture and music.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Sometimes they took their name with them; other times they molded themselves to whatever gimmick their new promoter needed on the roster.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

Dietrich was Hollywood’s greatest seductress, with conquests galore, male and female, but she was prouder of helping the war effort during World War II as a performer and war-bonds promoter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Netflix had presented White as part of the promotion alongside Turki Alalshikh's The Ring, despite Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn insisting his fighter's contract prevented White from having a promotional role.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

But above all, Brougham was a masterful promoter.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

But they didn’t free people from domestic labor or deliver the prosperity and security heralded by their promoters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

IHH says it isn’t subject to financial claims in the dispute involving Daiichi Sankyo and former Fortis promoters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Sheeran said the decision to drop Macklemore was made by his promoters, not him.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

But for all that, the celebrity endorsements worked … at least for the currency promoters, and in many cases for the celebrities.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

They were the promoters of the bloody carnival that plunged Macondo into delirium for three days and whose only lasting consequence was having given Aureliano Segundo the opportunity to meet Fernanda del Carpio.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Related Words

• advertiser
• advocate
• backer
• booster
• organizer
• publicist
• sponsor