stakeholder
4 synonyms for stakeholder, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A person, group or organisation with an interest in a project, business or decision, and who is affected by how it turns out.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
interested party
How to use stakeholder
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
key stakeholder
stakeholder engagement
stakeholder management
stakeholder buy-in
Standard business and public-sector vocabulary; sometimes criticised as jargon when it simply means 'the people involved'.
Etymology
Originally the person who held the stakes in a wager; the modern business sense of 'anyone with an interest' developed from that image.
Full origin of stakeholder →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a stakeholder and a shareholder?
A shareholder owns part of a company and has a financial claim on it. A stakeholder is anyone affected by what the company does, which includes shareholders but also staff, customers, suppliers, regulators and the local community. Every shareholder is a stakeholder; most stakeholders are not shareholders.
Who counts as a stakeholder in a project?
Anyone who can affect the project or be affected by it: the client paying for it, the team building it, the users who will live with the result, and often regulators or neighbours. Project managers usually map them by how much interest and how much influence each one has.
What is internal and external stakeholder?
Internal stakeholders sit inside the organisation, such as employees, managers and owners. External stakeholders sit outside it, such as customers, suppliers, government bodies and the wider community.
