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

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Etymology

Origin of promoter

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

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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

Jordan Firstman’s sincere, funny and genuinely moving debut feature has him playing a queer New York underground party promoter blindsided by the arrival of the 10-year-old son previously unknown to him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

Several marvelous larger-than-life photographs of her—O’Keeffe’s fame has always been amplified by images of her striking appearance, many taken by her husband and foremost promoter, Alfred Stieglitz—add panache.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

The central role of the promoter — and the lack of genuine athletic competition in matches — puts wrestlers and management on remarkably unequal footing.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

Within days, the promoter for Sheeran’s tour dismissed Macklemore from the shows.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

But nineteenth-century America was full of “humbug,” a word used for the types of entertainment popularized by renowned promoter P. T. Barnum.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Morocco never found the requisite finances and South Africa has up to four separate projects ongoing with different promoters in three different locations, two in Cape Town.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

I asked Megan why marketers are acting like party promoters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Instead of discussing how Fury and Joshua match up, the conversation became about promoters, contractual clauses, competing egos and whether the fight would happen at all.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 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

Fair promoters wanted Seabiscuit to be an exhibit.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

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Related Words

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

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