stakeholder

From stake +‎ holder.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsteɪkˌhəʊl.də/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsteɪkˌhoʊl.dɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊldə(ɹ)
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈstæɪkˌhəʉl.də/

stakeholder (plural stakeholders)

1. A person holding the stakes of bettors, with the responsibility of delivering the pot to the winner of the bet.
2. (law) A person such as a trustee, escrow agent or garnishee, who holds money or assets under trust for another party in a contractual agreement or as part of a claim.
3. (business) A person or organisation with a legitimate interest in a given situation, action or enterprise.

   Hyponyms: shareholder, stockholder

   • 2019 October, Ruth Bagley tells James Abbott, “Crunch time for Heathrow western link”, in Modern Railways, page 74:

     Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce (TVCC) and other stakeholders are now increasingly concerned about the risks of delay and urging progress on a project with a strong economic, commercial and environmental case.

• (business) The business sense essentially contradicts the betting and legal definitions, meaning the term has become a contranym: it refers to one who has an interest in an issue, whereas the other senses refer to one who does not have an interest in the property held (i.e., one who is disinterested, in the "impartial" sense of that word). It has gained significant use since the 1990s, especially when discussing corporate governance, and is broader than stockholder because it includes other interests besides investment equity (for example, stockholders plus workers plus community members affected environmentally).

• → German: Stakeholder

• “stakeholder”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• stakeholder on Wikipedia.Wikipedia