stakeholder
Americannoun
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a person or group owning a significant percentage of a company's shares
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a person or group not owning shares in an enterprise but affected by or having an interest in its operations, such as the employees, customers, local community, etc
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stakeholder
Explanation
A stakeholder is a person interested in a company. If you become CEO of a big company, you'll have to keep the interests of every stakeholder in mind, from the employees to the customers to the investors, whenever you make decisions. Supposedly people used to gamble by putting their money on a wooden stake, and a person called a stakeholder who wasn't involved in the betting would supervise to make sure everything was fair. No one uses wooden stakes anymore, but we still call the person who holds the money and monitors the betting the stakeholder, and people often use stake to mean "risk," or "investment." That's why someone who is invested in a business is also called a stakeholder.
Vocabulary lists containing stakeholder
Academic Vocabulary and Literary Terms, Unit 5
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Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 4-7
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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:
“When you’re talking about BC2BC, you have a wonderfully strong foundation because of the investment and planning and stakeholder engagement within California that acts like a tethering,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
"There will be stakeholder consultations before any final decision is taken."
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
The job requires “not only operational and strategic capability but also strong stakeholder management amid heightened geopolitical dynamics,” the bank says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Prominent money manager Bill Smead, whose firm has been an eBay stakeholder for nearly 20 years, told Barron’s Wednesday that he doesn’t “see any reason for eBay to sell to GameStop.”
From Barron's ● May 7, 2026
Social capital usually means emotional support and encouragement from a reliable stakeholder in one’s life, an asset commonly associated with marriage that is itself a form of wealth.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
"We call on communities, local leaders, and all relevant stakeholders to support, respect, and protect humanitarian action," the Red Cross said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Who do you see as your key partners and internal stakeholders?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
He said he will soon brief Congress and US stakeholders on the deal's details.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
“To allow stakeholders adequate time to consider the impact of these potential changes, we believe that it is in the public interest to grant interested parties additional time to provide comments.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
These heaps represented great wealth to the Iroquois, and the older chiefs sat beside them in the capacity of stakeholders and judges.
From The Scouts of the Valley by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler
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.
