stock option

noun

1

: an option contract involving stock

2

: a right granted by a corporation to officers or employees as a form of compensation that allows purchase of corporate stock at a fixed price usually within a specified period

Examples of stock option in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Once public, OpenAI’s compensation packages may also become less attractive in some ways; new hires would receive stock options rather than pre-IPO equity, and those options may or may not prove valuable depending on the company’s post-IPO performance and stock price trajectory. —Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2026

Since the 1990s, company boards have shifted away from stock options, which incentivize short-term performance, with stock awards, which boards argue are driven by longer-term incentives. —Robert Frank,devan Burris, CNBC, 24 Jan. 2026

Four days later, Musk became the first person ever worth $700 billion, after the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that had voided an award of Tesla stock options now worth $126 billion to Musk. —Matt Durot, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026

Jejurikar has been awarded a performance incentive of more than 130,000 company stock options. —Alexander Coolidge, USA Today, 14 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for stock option

• adoption

Legal Definition

stock option

see option sense 3