sponsor

Compared meaning: a person who gives money to support a cause (noun).

比较义项：出资支持某人或某项事业的人（名词）。

• patron

  Patron suggests a generous, often wealthy individual who supports an artist, institution or cause personally, especially in the arts; it carries a warmer, more personal and traditional tone than sponsor.

  patron 强调慷慨（通常是富有）的个人以私人身份资助艺术家、机构或事业，尤其在艺术领域，语气比 sponsor 更温情、更传统。

  As a patron of the arts, she quietly paid the tuition for several music students.

  作为艺术赞助人，她悄悄为几名音乐学生支付了学费。

• sponsor 本词

  Sponsor usually refers to a company, organization or individual that pays for a specific event, team or activity, often as a business or promotional arrangement, and can be either a person or an organization.

  sponsor 通常指为具体活动、团队或项目出资的公司、机构或个人，往往带有商业或宣传目的，可以是个人也可以是组织。

  A telecom company signed on as the official sponsor of the tennis tournament.

  一家电信公司成为了这场网球赛事的官方赞助商。

Patron and sponsor both mean someone who gives money to support something. Patron is a generous person who personally supports an artist or cause. Sponsor is usually a company paying for an event, often for business. This excludes patron meaning a regular customer.

这两个词都指出钱资助某人或某项事业的人，但语气和典型语境不同：patron 更强调个人以私人身份慷慨资助艺术家、机构或事业，语气较为正式、传统；sponsor 通常指以商业或宣传为目的、为具体活动或项目出资的公司或个人。这里不比较 patron 表示“顾客，老主顾”的意思。

Compared meaning: to give money to support an event or activity (verb).

比较义项：赞助（动词）。

• sponsor 本词

  The common, neutral word for paying to support an event, team, or activity, often for publicity; used constantly in business and sports contexts.

  这是最常用、中性的词，指出钱支持某项活动、团队或事件，通常带有宣传目的，常见于商业和体育语境。

  The soccer team is looking for a company willing to sponsor next season's uniforms.

  这支足球队正在寻找愿意赞助下赛季球衣的公司。

• patronize

  A formal, less common word for financially supporting a business or person; sounds old-fashioned or literary here, and readers may instead expect its more frequent sense of treating someone condescendingly.

  这是一个较为正式、不太常用的词，指在经济上支持某个商家或个人，用在这里显得有些老派或书面化，读者也更可能联想到它更常见的“居高临下地对待某人”这一含义。

  Wealthy merchants used to patronize young artists so they could keep painting.

  富商们过去常常赞助年轻艺术家，好让他们能继续作画。

Sponsor and patronize can both mean to give money to support something. Sponsor is the common, neutral word, used often in business and sports. Patronize is formal and rare, and sounds old-fashioned; readers more often expect its other meaning, to treat someone as less important.

两词在“出钱支持某人或某事”这一意义上接近，但 sponsor 是中性、常见的商业或公益用语，patronize 在这个意义上略显正式、少用，且更容易让人联想到它另一个常见义——居高临下地对待某人；这里不比较 patronize 的“摆架子、屈尊俯就地对待”这一义项。