sponsor

noun

1. 1

   A person or organization with some sort of responsibility for another person or organization, especially where the responsibility has a religious, legal, or financial aspect.

   He was my sponsor when I applied to join the club.

   They were my sponsors for immigration.

   The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone.

2. 2

   A person or organization with some sort of responsibility for another person or organization, especially where the responsibility has a religious, legal, or financial aspect. A senior member of a twelve step or similar program chosen to guide an initiate and form a partnership with them.

   My narcotics anonymous sponsor became my best friend when I finally was able to do something about my meth problem.

   Members also choose a sponsor, with whom they are supposed to remain in regular, even daily, contact—and that, too, is a powerful boost for monitoring.

3. 3

   A person or organization that pays all or part of the cost of an event, publication, media program, etc., usually in exchange for advertising.

   And now a word from our sponsor.

verb

1. 1

   To be a sponsor for.

   Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

Forms

plural

sponsors

past tense

sponsored

past participle

sponsored

present participle

sponsoring

third person singular

sponsors