trustee
Americannoun
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a person, usually one of a body of persons, appointed to administer the affairs of a company, institution, etc.
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a person who holds the title to property for the benefit of another.
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(in New England) a garnishee.
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a trusty.
verb (used with object)
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to place in the hands of a trustee or trustees.
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(in New England) to garnish.
noun
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a person to whom the legal title to property is entrusted to hold or use for another's benefit
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a member of a board that manages the affairs and administers the funds of an institution or organization
Usage
What does trustee mean? A trustee is a person who is appointed to administer the affairs of a company or other organization. Often such an organization will have a group, or a board, of trustees. A trustee can also be a person who holds the title to a property for someone else. If you inherit millions of dollars before you reach adulthood, the will might state that an adult manages that money for you until you become an adult. That person would be the trustee of your money. Example: The board of trustees advised us against running this ad during primetime.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of trustee
Explanation
A trustee is someone who is responsible for another person's money or property. Trustees sometimes oversee investment accounts or make sure a property is being taken care of. Trustee is a legal term that's often used when people write wills or set up trusts—funds that are set aside for specific recipients, usually called beneficiaries. There's also the kind of trustee who serves on a board of trustees, a group of people responsible for overseeing a charity or business, setting up policies and goals, and approving budgets. In either case, people have put their trust in the trustee.
Vocabulary lists containing trustee
The Inheritance Games
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The Legislative Branch, Sections 1–3
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Legal Lingo, List 3
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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:
"Under the supervision of the commission, an independent trustee will monitor their implementation," it added.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Zeynep Coskun, a trustee at the mosque, said it was "such an honour" to welcome the King.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Unified to detail specifically how it will carry out the future cuts; otherwise the county superintendent will appoint a trustee with authority to veto spending decisions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
The next month, Buffett says he is stepping down as a trustee from the Gates Foundation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
“Clothing over here!” a smiling prison trustee told me.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Garcia praised President Tomás Morales during a board of trustees meeting for his “outstanding leadership at Cal State San Bernardino and systemwide.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
That fund’s reserves are projected to remain positive for the 75-year period recently reviewed by Social Security’s trustees.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
One of its founders and trustees, John Hall, said the group had been sampling water in the River Stour for three years and had adapted their process for the children.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
A petition addressed to the president, provost and board of trustees by an alumni group, signed by more than 4,000 people, urged Yale to resist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The three-way appeal from Weaver, Lawrence, and Sproul convinced Fosdick and the foundation trustees: the grant, to be disbursed over two years, came through before the end of January.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
It marked a stark change from April 2016, when the university’s board of trusteed voted to keep the former president’s name on campus buildings and programs.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2020
To him she left $5,000,000, but again the bulk of the Flagler fortune went undivided into a trusteed estate.
From Time Magazine Archive
Two-thirds of the common stock has been trusteed to Robert De Forest, Haven Emereon, and myself to be used for philanthropic purposes when dividends are available, which is not yet the case.
From Time Magazine Archive
Already the Government has got back from the Chase National Bank with which it was trusteed, the half million dollars which Jackson Barnett gave the Baptist Home missions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Largest single block of trusteed Ayer stock-234,000 shares -was held by President Fry.
From Time Magazine Archive
She informed the executors that she wished to make over half her property to the old man, trusteeing it so that it should descend to his nephew.
From Overland by De Forest, J. W. (John William)
I know that I registered a vow that I would never again be trustee of anything without trusteeing it in fact.
From The Making of an American by Riis, Jacob A. (Jacob August)
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.
