WORD OF THE DAY: FIDUCIARY

adjective | fuh-DOO-shee-air-ee

What It Means

WORD OF THE DAY: GAMBOL

Fiduciary is a formal word describing something relating to or involving trust, such as the trust between a customer and a professional.

// The bank’s fiduciary obligations are clearly stated in the contract.

Fiduciary in Context

“Banks and brokerage firms hold a fiduciary responsibility to protect their customers, including from scams.” — Carter Pape, American Banker, 11 Aug. 2025

Fiduciary relationships are often of the financial variety, but the word fiduciary does not, in and of itself, suggest pecuniary (“money-related”) matters. Rather, fiduciary applies to any situation in which one person justifiably places confidence and trust in someone else, and seeks that person’s help or advice in some matter. The attorney-client relationship is a fiduciary one, for example, because the client trusts the attorney to act in the best interest of the client at all times. Fiduciary can also be used as a noun referring to the person who acts in a fiduciary capacity, and fiduciarily or fiducially can be called upon if you are in need of an adverb. The words are all faithful to their origin: Latin fīdere, which means “to trust.”

Merriam Webster Dictionary