receivership

noun

re·​ceiv·​er·​ship ri-ˈsē-vər-ˌship 

1

: the office or function of a receiver

2

: the state of being in the hands of a receiver

Examples of receivership in a Sentence

Years of financial difficulty eventually placed the company into receivership.

Recent Examples on the Web

The two-story, 1.1-million-square-foot mall fell into receivership in 2021 after failing to pay its debts. —Charlotte Observer, 13 Aug. 2025

The couple had to draw on all their reserves of resilience to start from scratch, and eventually found an opportunity to take a controlling share of an engineering business, Newark, from a conglomerate that had gone into receivership. —Alison Coleman, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2025

Judges can order financially distressed nursing homes into receivership and appoint a neutral third party to take over management and file regular reports to the courts. —Tamia Fowlkes, jsonline.com, 7 Aug. 2025

Earlier this year, Columbia had already agreed to a series of concessions — among them a ban on wearing masks on campus, the empowerment of police to make arrests, and putting the Department of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies under intellectual receivership. —The Editors, National Review, 28 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for receivership

• apostleship
• apprenticeship
• assistantship
• championship
• chancellorship
• citizenship
• companionship
• copartnership
• dictatorship
• directorship
• discipleship
• editorship

Kids Definition

receivership

noun

re·​ceiv·​er·​ship ri-ˈsē-vər-ˌship 

1

: the office or role of a receiver

2

: the state of being in the control of a receiver

Legal Definition

receivership

noun

re·​ceiv·​er·​ship ri-ˈsē-vər-ˌship 

1

: the office or function of a receiver

2

: a proceeding in which a receiver is appointed

3

: the state of being in the hands of a receiver compare bankruptcy