stewardship

noun

stew·​ard·​ship ˈstü-ərd-ˌship 

ˈstyü-;

ˈst(y)u̇rd-

1

: the office, duties, and obligations of a steward

2

: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something

especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care

stewardship of natural resources

Did you know?

Good Stewardship

When stewardship first appeared in English during the Middle Ages, it functioned as a job description, denoting the office of a steward, or manager of a large household. Over the centuries, its range of reference spread to the oversight of law courts, employee unions, college dining halls, Masonic lodges, and many other organizations. In recent years, the long-established "management" sense of stewardship has evolved a positive meaning, “careful and responsible management.” This sense is commonly found nowadays in contexts such as “stewardship of the environment, the family business,” etc. It also occasionally appears as an adjective in phrases such as “stewardship fundraising" (that is, fundraising aimed at building good relationships with donors in order to keep them loyal).

Synonyms

• administration
• care
• charge
• conduct
• control
• direction
• governance
• government
• guidance
• handling
• intendance
• management
• operation
• oversight
• presidency
• regulation
• running
• superintendence
• superintendency
• supervision

Examples of stewardship in a Sentence

generally the dean left the day-to-day stewardship of the college to the assistant dean

she believes that stewardship of the environment is everyone's responsibility

Recent Examples on the Web

Under his stewardship, NMG has achieved unprecedented milestones, including forging strategic partnerships and multi-year binding offtake agreements for active anode material with Panasonic Energy and General Motors. —Kansas City Star, 11 June 2024

The transaction would have brought an end to the Redstone family's long stewardship of Paramount, which was built on the corporate foundation laid by her late father, entertainment mogul Sumner Redstone. —Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 11 June 2024

The election served as a referendum on the nearly six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the current president, reflecting that a solid majority of the electorate has endorsed his stewardship of the country. —Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, New York Times, 3 June 2024

His economic stewardship, some experts argue, is setting up the country and its 1.4 billion people to succeed in the future. —Rohit Lamba, Foreign Affairs, 28 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

stewardship

noun

stew·​ard·​ship ˈst(y)ü-ərd-ˌship 

ˈst(y)u̇(-ə)rd-

1

: the office and duties of a steward

2

: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care

stewardship of our natural resources