• (RP) IPA: /ˈspɒn.sə/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈspɑn.səɹ/

1. A person or organisation with some sort of responsibility for another person or organisation, especially where the responsibility has a religious, legal, or financial aspect.

   hyponyms en

   He was my sponsor when I applied to join the club.

   They were my sponsors for immigration.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803 ↗:

     The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone.

   1. A senior member of a twelve step or similar program assigned to a guide a new initiate and form a partnership with him.

      My narcotics anonymous sponsor became my best friend when I finally was able to do something about my meth problem.

2. One that pays all or part of the cost of an event, a publication, or a media program, usually in exchange for advertising time.

   Synonyms: patron, underwriter

   And now a word from our sponsor.

• French: commanditaire, sponsor
• German: Sponsor, Sponsorin
• Portuguese: patrocinador
• Russian: поручи́тель
• Spanish: patrocinador, patrocinadora

• French: sponsor, commanditaire (Quebec)
• German: Sponsor
• Italian: sponsor
• Portuguese: patrocinador
• Russian: спо́нсор
• Spanish: patrocinador

sponsor (sponsors, present participle sponsoring; past and past participle sponsored)

1. (transitive) To be a sponsor for.

• French: (with respect to money) sponsoriser, financer, parrainer, patronner
• German: sponsern
• Portuguese: patrocinar
• Spanish: patrocinar