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

Jeremy Kudon, a lobbyist working for FanDuel and DraftKings, then started in on a plan called Project Aftermath. — New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2026

That made pro-Israel interests his third-largest industry source, behind Democratic/liberal interests and lobbyists and public-relations interests. — Steve Mollman, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2026

McCuskey himself resigned in September amid fallout from the Benton case, after the lobbyist who accused Benton raised questions about McCuskey’s behavior during his investigation. — Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune, 5 Nov. 2026

In his campaign, Piper highlighted affordability and the need for county government to be less swayed by the political donations incumbents receive from the lobbyists, vendors and developers that populate Miami-Dade’s donor circuit. — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 4 Nov. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1841, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for lobbyist

• hobbyist