lobbyist

noun

lob·​by·​ist ˈlä-bē-ist 

plural lobbyists

: one who conducts activities aimed at influencing or swaying public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation : a person engaged in lobbying public officials

The new rule says that if you were a registered lobbyist in the past two years, you can't work for the administration on any issue you touched. After you leave government, you can't lobby the administration at all.

—Jacob Weisberg

Because so many lobbyists have past experience on Capitol Hill, they usually have personal ties both to members of congress and to their key staffers, who vet and prioritize the earmark requests.

—Ken Silverstein

Examples of lobbyist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The industry paid lobbyists millions to eventually defeat SB 1047. —Lia Russell, Sacbee.com, 25 Sep. 2025

Hernandez Santana, a former lobbyist, faces both state and federal charges, including firearms violations and interference with radio communications. —Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025

And when his claims about a lobbyist infiltrating the summit bear out, Alex winds up breaking a story that makes news that evening. —Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 24 Sep. 2025

Black delivered that report before the management committee of EXXON, who purposefully buried those conclusions and continued to fund lobbyists, think tanks, and politicians who vociferously denied the reality of anthropogenic climate change. —Ed Simon september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for lobbyist

• hobbyist