custodian

noun

ˌkə-ˈstō-dē-ən How to pronounce custodian (audio)
Definition of custodiannext
1
as in keeper
a person who takes care of a property sometimes for an absent owner the custodian made his usual rounds of the building to make sure that everything was OK

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2
as in guardian
a person or group that watches over someone or something served as custodian of the prisoner until he could be turned over to federal authorities

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3
as in defender
someone that protects we must regard ourselves as custodians of the Earth so that its natural resources may be enjoyed by many generations to come

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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 custodian But neither appellation applies to Jaime, who leads a large union, or Kundassery, who plans to be an emergency-medicine doctor, or Quintero, the daughter of a custodian, who has a graduate degree from Cornell. — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026 Head custodians were usually paid $60,000 to $73,000 per year. — Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 18 Oct. 2026 Under what was known as the Status Quo, a set of unwritten understandings between Israel and Jordan, the custodian of Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites, Jews could visit the shrine, but only Muslims could worship there. — Ilan Ben Zion, Christian Science Monitor, 14 Oct. 2026 The following day, a 15-year-old killed a school custodian and wounded two other people in a knife attack at his former school in the same province. — ABC News, 11 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for custodian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for custodian
  1. keeper
  2. guardian
  3. defender
  4. janitor
  5. warden
  6. protector
  7. caretaker
  8. guard
Noun
  • But just as meaningful - if not more so - is witnessing the increasing volume of players who seem like keepers.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Then the Wildcats raced down the field on only five plays to up it to 14-3, scoring on Chiles' keeper.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of keeper
Noun
  • Parents or guardians must still claim and activate those accounts before managing them.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 26 Oct. 2026
  • All the accounts of her story agree that this young heiress, named Maria de Lourdes Fernandes, witnessed the deaths of her parents; her guardian then locked her up and drove her to suicide to get her inheritance.
    — Marcus Librizzi, The Conversation, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of guardian
Noun
  • That cost difference matters because defenders can deploy one-way attack drones in large numbers, potentially forcing them to expend valuable missiles against comparatively inexpensive targets.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Emmanwori was the defender in pursuit of Worthy when the receiver dropped a pass that would have resulted in a first down early in the fourth quarter.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of defender
Noun
  • Eventually, an airport janitor grabbed the bird with her shirt.
    — Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Elbert said an airport janitor finally grabbed the bird with her shirt.
    — Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of janitor
Noun
  • Wasson, by contrast, kicks off by quoting three letters from prisoners in San Quentin, from 1947, addressed to the warden.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Since the story blew up, the warden ordered at least two raids to confiscate anything brought in illegally, TMZ adds.
    — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of warden
Noun
  • The 6-foot-7 junior center quickly established herself as one of the nation’s best rim protectors after transferring in from Kentucky last season.
    — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Mixing puppetry, live theater and Indigenous percussion, the production turns familiar bogeymen into protectors while asking audiences to reconsider who — and what — poses the real danger.
    — Laura Zornosa, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of protector
Noun
  • There’s also a 5,000-square-foot guesthouse, a caretaker’s residence, and a separate two-bedroom guardhouse.
    — Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 23 Oct. 2026
  • After being Claudia’s full-time caretaker for years until her death in 2024 at age 96, Young relocated back to Santa Barbara and cultivated his social media audience by sharing insights into the music business.
    — Kyle Eustice, VIBE.com, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of caretaker
Noun
  • But with the Heat in search of offense and outside shooting, Heat rookie guard Ryan Conwell was called on to play the first meaningful minutes of his NBA career.
    — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 25 Oct. 2026
  • His coronation signaled where the genre was headed—away from the pleading old-guard types and toward a more fluid, hardcore hip-hop hybrid.
    — Clover Hope, Pitchfork, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of guard

Browse Nearby Words

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custodian
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Cite this Entry

“Custodian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/custodian. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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