noun
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a person who gives financial or other support
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a person who bets on a competitor or contestant
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of backer
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:
Microsoft has been a big backer of OpenAI but is struggling to remain on the forefront of the fast-moving technology, which threatens to unseat software makers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Sajith Pai of Blume Ventures, an early stage Indian start-up backer said Shah was getting an "even bigger canvas to paint his bold brushstrokes in".
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
“Tech has been a long backer of his, but at the same time there is this growing national outcry against data centers.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2026
A backer of the prime minister said, when Burnham had faced tough questions in the by-election campaign, "he's fallen apart".
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Ever attuned to the ebb and flow of research funding, he recognized that the government stood to become as generous a financial backer as the medical foundations he had mined to build the sixty-inch.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Rising construction costs and shortages of labor and parts are forcing some operators to seek deeper-pocketed backers to fund expansions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
But he later became one of his staunchest backers.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Hawaii and Oregon have laws that allow for the forfeiture of an animal during a criminal case, according to the bill’s backers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
However, Moraff and other Platner backers seem to have ended their assessment there.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
No one knew better than Ernest that his expansion plans would outstrip the resources of the university, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Research Corporation, his customary financial backers.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
