stock options

Cultural  

1. The right to purchase a company's shares at a future date at an agreed price. Companies often give stock options to their executives as an incentive to improve the company's performance and boost its share price. If the share price has risen above the agreed price of the option by the time the option is exercised, the executive stands to make a considerable profit.

---

Example Sentences

During the past two decades, SpaceX has hired thousands of staff and granted them boatloads of restricted stock units, incentive stock options and nonqualified stock options that have vested over time.

From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026

It recently announced it is offering long-tenured employees voluntary buyouts—which it called voluntary retirements—as part of a broader shift to change how it awards bonuses and stock options.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026

Even at Robinhood, one of the least scrupulous brokerages, someone who wants to trade stock options needs to go through at least a nominal approval process.

From Slate • Apr. 28, 2026

Ultimately, the Delaware Supreme Court sided with Tesla in 2025, keeping Musk’s stock options intact.

From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026

For most of the people involved, the words "stock options" worked their normal, morally debilitating magic.

From The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by Boyle, James