steward
Americannoun
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a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.
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a person who has charge of the household of another, buying or obtaining food, directing the servants, etc.
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an employee who has charge of the table, wine, servants, etc., in a club, restaurant, or the like.
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a person who attends to the domestic concerns of persons on board a vessel, as in overseeing maids and waiters.
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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.
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a flight attendant.
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a person appointed by an organization or group to supervise the affairs of that group at certain functions.
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U.S. Navy. a petty officer in charge of officer's quarters and mess.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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a person who administers the property, house, finances, etc, of another
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a person who manages the eating arrangements, staff, or service at a club, hotel, etc
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a person who attends to passengers on an aircraft, ship or train
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a mess attendant in a naval mess afloat or ashore
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a person who helps to supervise some event or proceedings in an official capacity
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short for shop steward
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stewardsimple
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stewardssimple
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have stewardedperfect
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has stewardedperfect
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am stewardingprogressive
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are stewardingprogressive
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is stewardingprogressive
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have been stewardingperfect progressive
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has been stewardingperfect progressive
Past
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stewardedsimple
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had stewardedperfect
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was stewardingprogressive
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were stewardingprogressive
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had been stewardingperfect progressive
Future
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. )
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.
Vocabulary lists containing steward
This Week in Words: October 28 - November 3, 2017
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"Why Exploring the Ocean Is Mankind's Next Giant Leap," Vocabulary from the commentary
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Theodore Roosevelt on "New Nationalism" (1910)
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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:
But the U.S. needs every generation to steward the nation, this great inheritance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Kripke will continue to act as the steward of “The Boys” universe, allowing him to maintain the distinctive tone set by the original.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Now, they are offering the compound up to a new steward, listing the property for $9.88 million, according to records.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
What does exist, for the first time in a long while, is a meaningful question about whether the U.S. will continue to steward that system with the care it deserves.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
The steward, John Aycliffe, never lost an opportunity to remind us of the fact that we were villeins—serfs—bound to Furnival, Lord of Stromford Village.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
“We want to be able to be responsible stewards of this precious resource, but also make sure that the patient gets the the best treatment.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
"Management's communication remains a disaster across the board," he said, adding that shop stewards were organising meetings at which Blume would be expected to take questions from staff in person.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
“We are honored to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Freeholders argue that they act as "stewards" of buildings.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
This double door was opened at 8:23 and ten seconds in order that the dozen wine stewards could get their kegs quickly to the eaters.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
“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 shipments could be the start of a stream of exports stewarded by the American government and handled by European companies that are used to working in markets many Western firms wouldn’t touch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 17, 2026
Much the same as the teams stewarded by the man he's just surpassed, the late Craig Brown.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2025
This park, and all of Nunavut, is Inuit Nunangat -- Inuit homeland in Canada -- and the park protects sites and biodiversity stewarded by Inuit since time immemorial.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024
When we closed up at nine he went to some other part of the hotel and stewarded.
From Working With the Working Woman by Parker, Cornelia Stratton
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 said the tribe’s members feel delighted to be once again stewarding these lands and waterways, as their ancestors once did.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2025
The ocean is a globally shared resource, and stewarding the deep sea may be society’s last chance to protect the remaining virgin Earth.
From Salon ● May 21, 2025
Norris said the stewards were "just guessing and I don’t think that’s how stewarding should be done".
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2024
The very survival of democracy as a functional reality is dependent upon our acceptance, as individuals, of adult roles in conceiving and stewarding the shape and direction of society.
From Open Source Democracy by Rushkoff, Douglas
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.
