promoter

American  

[pruh-moh-ter] / prəˈmoʊ tər /

noun

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.

---

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

---

promoter Scientific  

/ prə-mō′tər /

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

---

Other Word Forms

• self-promoter noun

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

Netflix, the broadcasters of Saturday night's comeback show, even announced the all-British fight on social media for autumn in the UK, which Fury's promoter Frank Warren quickly shot down.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026

With a super-fight now in Price's sights, her promoter Ben Shalom said the Welshwoman could be the number one pound-for-pound female fighter on the planet by the end of the year.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

He said that through a nightlife promoter, he was introduced to Pierre Louis, a fixer who specialized in getting rich people what they wanted.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026

Rapino helped build Live Nation from its inception in 2005 into the world’s biggest concert promoter through a series of acquisitions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

One enterprising promoter even offered to pay Smith to hold training tutorials.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Related Words

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