Dealmaker

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who excels at negotiating agreements and bringing together parties to complete business or personal transactions
2. Someone adept at facilitating negotiations and structuring deals between different parties or interests
3. An individual who specializes in brokering agreements and arranging the terms by which parties reach mutual understanding

Etymology: "Dealmaker" is a plain compound: "deal" joined to "maker," the agent noun from "make." Its meaning follows the sense of "deal" as an agreement or transaction, so a dealmaker is someone who arranges or closes such agreements. The pairing works much like "peacemaker" or "matchmaker," where the second element names the person who brings a thing about. The surprising part lies in "deal" itself. That word comes from Old English "dǣl," meaning a portion or share, and it originally referred to a part of something rather than a bargain. The sense of an arrangement between parties developed later, so a dealmaker is, at root, someone who makes a share or a portion, and the commercial meaning grew out of that idea of dividing things up.

Synonyms: negotiator, broker