gatekeeper
Americannoun
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a person in charge of a gate, usually to identify, count, supervise, etc., the traffic that flows through it.
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a person or thing that controls access, as to information, often acting as an arbiter of quality or legitimacy: An open internet allows innovators to bypass traditional gatekeepers and promote their work on its own merit.
Treating office gatekeepers with respect will improve your chances of scheduling a face-to-face meeting or job interview.
An open internet allows innovators to bypass traditional gatekeepers and promote their work on its own merit.
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a guardian; monitor.
the gatekeepers of Western culture.
noun
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a person who has charge of a gate and controls who may pass through it
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any of several Eurasian butterflies of the genus Pyronia, esp P. tithonus, having brown-bordered orange wings with a black-and-white eyespot on each forewing: family Satyridae
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a manager in a large organization who controls the flow of information, esp to parent and subsidiary companies
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gatekeeper
First recorded in 1565–75; in 1905–10 gatekeeper for defs. 2, 3; gate 1 + keeper
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:
In findings published in Science Advances, the team showed that the MPS acts as a physical gatekeeper for nearly every major type of endocytosis.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Companies like Apple are designated a so-called "gatekeeper" under the DMA, and their apps are subject to extra scrutiny as "core platform services".
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
He soon became his grandfather’s shadow, the gatekeeper who holds Raúl Castro’s telephone, passing or not passing messages and documents along.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
The judge said he acted as a "gatekeeper" to Abu Qatada, vetting those who wanted to access chats where the man was present.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026
But there was something in the look and the voice of the gatekeeper that made him uneasy.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Meanwhile, the rules meant to protect ordinary savers have been dismantled by some of the gatekeepers entrusted to enforce them.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
"Prog is simply great music released from the arid strictures of cool and from the sneers of gatekeepers".
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
Allowing private lenders “to be the gatekeepers of who gets access to a higher education … that’s very troubling,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, the policy director at Protect Borrowers.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 31, 2026
Or a destroyer of the music those gatekeepers want to protect?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
Crete came into sight; they landed, and the Seasons, the gatekeepers of Olympus, arrayed her for her bridal.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
