patronage.

1. Support, often financial, given to a person, institution, or artistic activity.

2. The distribution of jobs or favors through personal or political connections.

3. The custom or business provided by customers.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• artistic patronage
• royal patronage

On the page

The museum expanded under private patronage.

Usage notes

Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, evaluation, social science. Commonness: moderately common.