steward
Syllables: stew·ard/ˈstjuː.əːd//ˈstu.ɚd/
steward noun: a person who manages the property or affairs for another entity.
Noun
steward (plural stewards)
- A person who manages the property or affairs for another entity.
- A chief administrator of a medieval manor.
- A ship's officer who is in charge of making dining arrangements and provisions.
- There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC
- A flight attendant, especially male.
- The gay Kibbutzniks I met were all ex-Kibbutzniks who were curretly holding jobs as El-Al stewards or in some similarly classic gay professions.1974 February 9, Joe, “Reactions”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 33, page 6
- A union member who is selected as a representative for fellow workers in negotiating terms with management.
- Synonyms:
- shop steward
- A person who has charge of buildings, grounds, or animals.
- Synonyms:
- caretaker, custodian, keeper, groundskeeper
- Someone responsible for organizing an event
- A bartender.
- A fiscal agent of certain bodies.
- a steward in a Methodist church
- A junior assistant in a Masonic lodge.
- An officer who provides food for the students and superintends the kitchen; also, an officer who attends to the accounts of the students.
- A magistrate appointed by the crown to exercise jurisdiction over royal lands.
- These lands must have been retained by some earlier Steward, perhaps Walter II (1204-41), when most of Erskine had been made into a fief for Henry, first known ancestor of the Erskine family.2001, The Innes Review
- Somebody who is responsible for managing a set of projects, products or technologies and how they affect the IT organization to which they belong.
- A person who is responsible for the arbitration of incidents at a motor racing event and determining whether or not fines or penalties should be issued for such incidents.
- Synonyms:
- air steward, airline steward, flight attendant, cabin crew
- A person who exercises responsible and caring administration of something; a person who exhibits stewardship.
Verb
steward (third-person singular simple present stewards, present participle stewarding, simple past and past participle stewarded)
- To act as the steward or caretaker of (something)
- Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, a Democrat from Middlesex County, said, “It’s an uncomfortable situation,” but added that Mr. Codey is nevertheless “ably stewarding the state.”2007 May 1, Richard G. Jones, “An Acting Governor’s Balancing Act: Taking the Lead Without Stepping on Toes”, in New York Times
Proper noun capitalized: Steward
Steward (countable and uncountable, plural Stewards)
- An English surname originating as an occupation, a variant of Stewart.
- A village in Lee County, Illinois, United States.
steward meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
steward in Tamil
- பொறுப்பாளர், மேலாளர், குதிரைப்பந்தயக் காப்பாளர், பண்ணை மேலாளர்
steward in Urdu
- خانساماں, ناظر, پیش کار
steward in Bengali
- পরিচালক, তত্ত্বাবধায়ক, বিমানসেবক
steward in Telugu
- స్టీవర్డ్, స్టీవార్డ్
More languagesFewer languages
- steward in Malayalam
- പരിചാരകൻ, ഹോട്ടൽ ക്ലബ്ബ് ഇവിടങ്ങളിലെ കലവറക്കാരൻ, കാര്യസ്ഥൻ
- steward in Punjabi
- ਸਟੀਵਰਡ
- steward in Odia
- ଷ୍ଟ୍ଯ଼ୁଯ଼ାର୍ଡ
- steward in Thai
- คนจัดการทรัพย์สิน
Examples of steward in a sentence
- The fundraising campaign was successfully stewarded to completion on time.
- The bill was stewarded through Congress to the President.
- Fights ensued as many England supporters attempted to retreat before some stewards moved in.
Synonyms of steward
- bailiff
- provost
- shop steward
- caretaker
- custodian
- keeper
- groundskeeper
- air steward
- airline steward
- flight attendant
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of steward
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stewards |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stewards |
| present participle | stewarding |
| past participle | stewarded |
| past | stewarded |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Stewards |
| alternative form | Stewart |
Origin of steward
From Middle English steward, stiward, from Old English stiġweard (“steward, housekeeper, one who has the superintendence of household affairs, guardian”), from stiġ (“a wooden enclosure; house, hall”) + weard (“ward, guard, guardian, keeper”), equivalent to sty + ward. Compare Icelandic stívarður (“steward”). More at sty, ward.
From steward.
Words formed from steward
Phrases with steward
Questions about steward
- What does steward mean?
- Steward means a person who manages the property or affairs for another entity.
- What is steward in Tamil?
- Steward in Tamil is பொறுப்பாளர், மேலாளர், குதிரைப்பந்தயக் காப்பாளர். See Steward meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is steward?
- Steward can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce steward?
- Steward is pronounced /ˈstjuː.əːd/.
- What is the plural of steward?
- The plural of steward is stewards.
Words near steward in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: steward (page history and authors); Steward (page history and authors); steward (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); steward (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); steward (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); steward (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); steward (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); steward (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); steward (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-steward.ogg.
Cite this entry: “steward.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steward. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.