steward

American  

[stoo-erd, styoo-] / ˈstu ərd, ˈstju- /

noun

• stewards
  plural

1. a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.

2. a person who has charge of the household of another, buying or obtaining food, directing the servants, etc.

3. an employee who has charge of the table, wine, servants, etc., in a club, restaurant, or the like.

4. a person who attends to the domestic concerns of persons on board a vessel, as in overseeing maids and waiters.

5. an employee on a ship, train, or bus who waits on and is responsible for the comfort of passengers, takes orders for or distributes food, etc.

6. a flight attendant.

7. a person appointed by an organization or group to supervise the affairs of that group at certain functions.

8. U.S. Navy. a petty officer in charge of officer's quarters and mess.

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verb (used with object)

• stewards,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stewarded,
  past participle,  past
• stewarding
  present participle

1. to act as steward of; manage.

verb (used without object)

• stewards,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stewarded,
  past participle,  past
• stewarding
  present participle

1. to act or serve as steward.

steward British  

/ ˈstjʊəd /

noun

1. a person who administers the property, house, finances, etc, of another

2. a person who manages the eating arrangements, staff, or service at a club, hotel, etc

3. a person who attends to passengers on an aircraft, ship or train

4. a mess attendant in a naval mess afloat or ashore

5. a person who helps to supervise some event or proceedings in an official capacity

6. short for shop steward

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verb

1. to act or serve as a steward (of something)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stewardship
  noun
• understeward
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stewards
  plural

Participles

• stewarding
  present
• stewarded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• steward
  simple
• stewards
  simple
• have stewarded
  perfect
• has stewarded
  perfect
• am stewarding
  progressive
• are stewarding
  progressive
• is stewarding
  progressive
• have been stewarding
  perfect progressive
• has been stewarding
  perfect progressive

Past

• stewarded
  simple
• had stewarded
  perfect
• was stewarding
  progressive
• were stewarding
  progressive
• had been stewarding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will steward
  simple
• will have stewarded
  perfect
• will be stewarding
  progressive
• will have been stewarding
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of steward

before 900; Middle English; Old English stīweard, stigweard, equivalent to stig- (sense uncertain; probably “house, hall”; see sty ¹) + weard ward ( def. )

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Explanation

A steward is someone who takes care of the grounds or animals of a particular place. If your parents are always traveling and you have to take care of your six younger siblings, you probably feel like the steward of the house. You might have heard the term "stewardess," a female flight attendant, but the name has trickled out of use in favor of the gender-neutral "flight attendant." A steward is the male version of that. Anyone who takes care of places or people is a steward. You can be a steward of artifacts from an architectural dig. You can also be elected to be the steward of your co-workers retirement fund. Either way, someone's trusting you with their stuff.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

steward stewards stewarded stewarding

“Winning,” he says, “means helping humanity steward AGI into the world safely and securely for the benefit of everyone. I think that’s the most important thing I can do over the next few years.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

She is a cautious steward of her institution, and not a post goes out on social media in the museum’s name without her explicit imprimatur.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

She met her partner Pete, a steward, at work, but soon after she began experiencing severe migraines and sought medical help.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Followers trust her to steward beloved images, and when I got up the courage to submit a picture, I sent a black-and-white studio portrait of my green-eyed grandmother Esperanza, a Mexican immigrant from Guadalajara, Jalisco.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Even as I decided to speak to him, I saw the steward and the bailiff emerge from the manor house, along with men from the village.

From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi

In its filing, Anthropic said it believes the founders group is “distinctly equipped to be stewards of our mission.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

The referee stopped play and the stadium announcer urged fans not to throw objects on to the pitch, while stewards hastily removed the items from the grass.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

“We don’t own the land, but we certainly feel like we have an immense responsibility to be good stewards and caretakers of the land,” said Danielle Cirelli, chair of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The Yosemite NPS Employees Union said it was "appalled" by the ceding of public lands for private interests, calling the proposed trade "antithetical to what we stand for" as stewards of the park.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

As they passed, each warrior stripped off his treasures and tossed them into one of the carts that the stewards had placed before the gate.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

But in the past few years, a number of acclaimed new Hungarian restaurants have come to the rescue, stewarded by tradition-minded chefs intent on exploring and innovating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

The Lauensteins, who spent years scouring architectural salvage sites for items including wrought iron, hardware, lighting and doors to decorate their home, largely stewarded the transformation, with occasional guidance from interior designers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

“Lovingly stewarded by the same family for nearly 70 years, this grand residence has been thoughtfully updated and modernized in preparation for the next chapter in its illustrious history.”

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 14, 2026

The 54-year-old has stewarded projects including adding new developments at the parks such as World of Frozen and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026

When we closed up at nine he went to some other part of the hotel and stewarded.

From Working With the Working Woman by Cornelia Stratton Parker

The former chief executive of Disney knows as much as anyone about successfully stewarding an iconic brand.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

But stewarding that authority demands humility and faith in the university’s distinct role in cultivating debate—neither proscribing questions nor prescribing answers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026

"He's had 80 years of stewarding and looking after Shuna and trying to get all sorts of businesses going and has absolutely loved it the whole of his life," Mr Gully said.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2025

He added that increased investment in stewarding and crowd management was "now essential to allow the police to focus on their primary role of crime prevention and public protection".

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2025

The very survival of democracy as a functional reality may be dependent upon our acceptance, as individuals, of adult roles in conceiving and stewarding the shape and direction of society.

From Open Source Democracy by Douglas Rushkoff

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Related Words

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