stewardship

American  

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

noun

1. the position and duties of a steward, a person who acts as the surrogate of another or others, especially by managing property, financial affairs, an estate, etc.

2. the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.

   New regulatory changes will result in better stewardship of lands that are crucial for open space and wildlife habitat.

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Other Word Forms

• understewardship
  noun

Etymology

Origin of stewardship

First recorded in 1450–1500; steward + -ship

Explanation

Stewardship means the management or care of something, particularly the kind that works. If your company is making money, there’s probably been careful stewardship — or, a lot of luck. The sphere or responsibility of a steward (as in a manager or administrator), stewardship is often used to mean "the care, handling and management of resources." Your school requires stewardship to make sure its supplies aren’t stretched. Your clean water may be thanks to the stewardship of an environmental office. Though there is a steward on a ship to handle food and supplies, the ship in stewardship is not a seagoing vessel; it's just a suffix.

Example Sentences

Instead, yesterday’s broth serves as a road map for tomorrow’s batch, guided by family members whose identities have become intertwined with stewardship of the soup.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 30, 2026

“Today’s ruling affirms a principle that has underpinned sound economic stewardship for generations: that the Federal Reserve must make all its policy decisions guided by evidence and independent judgment, free from political interference,” Cook said.

From Barron's • Jun. 29, 2026

With his air of Olympian detachment, Greenspan will be remembered for his long stewardship of the US economy, during which GDP contracted only once.

From BBC • Jun. 22, 2026

When I asked him how he approaches the stewardship of two houses synonymous with their founders’ creative visions, he offered a personally chilling analogy.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

She would attribute it to measureless wellsprings of piety or stewardship of the phantom herds that bled out the milk of human kindness.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Related Words

• administration
• care
• control
• governance
• government
• handling
• operation
• oversight
• supervision