1
as in custodian
a person who takes care of a property sometimes for an absent owner got a job as the night janitor at the elementary school

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2
as in porter
a person who tends a door according to popular Christian tradition, St. Peter acts as janitor at heaven's pearly gates

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of janitor Once freed from slavery, Washington toiled in coal mines, worked as a janitor in exchange for formal education and became a great American orator and leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Jennifer Smith Richards, ProPublica, 22 Oct. 2025 In Season 1, Gillory was a janitor at the LAPD but become a full-time consultant after solving a murder case and impressing everyone with her IQ of 160. Jordan Moreau, Variety, 13 Oct. 2025 Low-wage service workers, including cleaners, janitors, security guards, cafeteria workers and other staffers who keep buildings operating, are often out of luck. Matt Egan, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2025 The great quarterbacks are janitors for organizational messes, smoothing over the cracks and making a bad team look competent for three hours. Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 29 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for janitor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for janitor
Noun
  • But cities tend to be where people go out looking for birds, trying to find them before the rats get them, or before custodians sweep them away.
    NPR, NPR, 17 Oct. 2025
  • The Best Picture winner features Sally Hawkins as Elise, a mute custodian who works in a secret government facility that’s currently housing a strange fish creature (Doug Jones) who’s being studied by scientists and the military.
    Tim Grierson, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • LuxExperience operates the Mytheresa, Net-a-porter and Mr Porter luxury website brands as well as Yoox and The Outnet off-price sites.
    Luisa Zargani, Footwear News, 22 Oct. 2025
  • By then, the preeminent fashion genius of the third quarter of the 20th century and the designer so often credited with inventing the modern woman’s wardrobe had handed prêt-à-porter over to his assistants, who clung as if by commandment to the house dogma of bourgeois Parisian elegance.
    Rob Haskell, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • To complete the hat-trick just after half-time, one-on-one with the ’keeper, was great.
    Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Chapple said DynamoDB is a record-keeper that helps track user information and store key data.
    Melina Khan, USA Today, 21 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The Clermont County Animal Shelter took possession of the animals after they were recovered by the wardens.
    Matthew Cupelli, Cincinnati Enquirer, 4 Oct. 2025
  • Even after the state Supreme Court ordered her release, Bailey’s office told the prison warden to ignore the court’s order.
    Jeremy Kohler, ProPublica, 24 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • First, and perhaps most obvious, the fictional thriller draws inspiration from the Manson Family's home invasion and murder of Sharon Tate and her friends, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski, as well as Steven Parent, who was visiting the home's caretaker.
    Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Brides finds Sally Bishop (Cooke) and her husband on a trip to Northern Italy in 1961, where they get stranded at a remote villa run by the enigmatic Vova (Lawtey), who presides over a household of beautiful, deathless women (Turner-Smith, Prettejohn) and their caretaker (Gorman).
    Matt Grobar, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Janitor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/janitor. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.

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