realtor
pronunciation
How to pronounce realtor in British English:
UK ['ri:əltə(r)]
How to pronounce realtor in American English:
US ['riəltər]
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- Noun:
- a person who is authorized to act as an agent for the sale of land
Word Origin
- Realtor (n.)
- 1916, "real estate agent," American English, coined by real estate agent Charles N. Chadbourn of Minneapolis, Minn., to distinguish the legitimate section of the business; popularized 1920s; patented as Realtor by the National Association of Real Estate Boards. The 1916 Convention of the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB) approved the adoption of the term as the official designation of an active member of the Association. In 1920 the District Court of Hennepin County, Minnesota, decided in favor of the Realtors in a case against a telephone directory publisher that had indiscriminately used the word in listings. The court asserted that the word "had never been used in any way whatsoever until so invented" and could thus be used only by those duly licensed by the National Association of Real Estate Boards. Until the Lanham Acts of 1948 changed federal patent regulations to allow protection for registered collective marks, the National Association fought and won sixteen cases on the local and state levels to protect its symbolic property. [Jeffrey M. Hornstein, "The Rise of Realtor," in "The Middling Sorts: Explorations in the History of the American Middle Class," New York, 2001]
Example
- 1. You 're dating our realtor ?
- 2. You 've already talked to a realtor ?
- 3. My parents left their personal affairs suspiciously in order , down to the name and number of a realtor on a note taped to the fridge .
- 4. As of late summer 2009 only a single island has been developed and it belongs to dubai 's ruling sheik ; " the rest looks like a pile of muck " according to a local realtor .
- 5. ' And how better to celebrate this new beginning than with your extended family , a few close friends and food , music and dancing ? ' Says ms. lasky , 54 , a realtor in woodbridge , n.j.