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

Thinking globally and acting locally means electing people of vision, not people who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag without a lobbyist lighting their way under the table, or down the wrong path where for-profit companies rule and teachers are scapegoated for society's failures. —Shelley Smith Special To The Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 10 Jan. 2026

This was a victory for fossil fuel and utility lobbyists that have spent millions influencing the governor — whose husband’s law firm has the Williams NESE pipeline as a client. —Diana Moreno, New York Daily News, 10 Jan. 2026

Buckley said Mangione’s lawyers have likewise not shown that Bondi’s decision to authorize the death penalty against their client was influenced in any way by her relationship with Ballard, where Bondi worked as a lobbyist following her two terms as Florida attorney general. —Adam Reiss, NBC news, 9 Jan. 2026

Community member voices opposition, but withdraws Caryl Auslander, a lobbyist who said she's known Zay for several years, offered another option for state sandwich. —Katie Wiseman, IndyStar, 8 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for lobbyist

• hobbyist