Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • American family, including John Davison (1839–1937), an oil magnate who amassed great wealth through the Standard Oil Company and spent about half of his fortune on philanthropic works. His son, John Davison, Jr. (1874–1960), continued his father's work and had six children, including Nelson Aldrich (1908–1979), who was governor of New York (1959–1973) and vice president of the United States (1974–1977) under Gerald Ford.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun An American surname.
  • noun A very rich person.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun United States industrialist who made a fortune in the oil business and gave half of it away (1839-1937)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the German place name Rockenfeld.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From John D. Rockefeller, the American industrialist who founded Standard Oil, also recognized for his 20th century philanthropy.

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Examples

  • NEVA ROCKEFELLER GOODWIN, JOHN D ROCKEFELLER'S GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER: I want to stress that all of the resolutions from Rockefeller family members reenforce different aspects of the same concern -- the need for Exxon to identify energy-related opportunities and strengths to complement its strengths and skills in an industry that will soon look very different than it did when many of Exxon's managers started their careers.

    CNN Transcript Apr 30, 2008 2008

  • NEVA ROCKEFELLER GOOD.IN, GREAT-GRAND.AUGHTER OF JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER: I want to stress all of the resolutions from Rockefeller family members reinforced different aspects of the same concern.

    CNN Transcript Apr 30, 2008 2008

  • NEVA ROCKEFELLER GOODWIN, EXXONMOBILE SHAREHOLDER: And I want to stress that all of the resolutions from Rockefeller family members reinforce different aspects of the same concern.

    CNN Transcript Apr 30, 2008 2008

  • (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NEVA ROCKEFELLER GOODWIN, EXXON MOBIL SHAREHOLDER: I want to stress that all of the resolutions from Rockefeller family members reinforce different aspects of the same concern -- the need for Exxon to identify related opportunities and strengths and to complement its strengths and skills in an industry that will soon look very different than it did when many of Exxon's managers started their careers.

    CNN Transcript Apr 30, 2008 2008

  • Decades later the term "Rockefeller Republican" can still be heard by pundits and the occasional voter lamenting his party's loss of moderation.

    NYT > Home Page By FRANCIS X. CLINES 2011

  • On Tuesday, "good" teachers will be giving model lessons before the public in Rockefeller Center.

    Sarah Garland: The Education Reform Show: Now Playing 24/7 Sarah Garland 2010

  • On Tuesday, "good" teachers will be giving model lessons before the public in Rockefeller Center.

    Sarah Garland: The Education Reform Show: Now Playing 24/7 Sarah Garland 2010

  • On Tuesday, "good" teachers will be giving model lessons before the public in Rockefeller Center.

    Sarah Garland: The Education Reform Show: Now Playing 24/7 Sarah Garland 2010

  • On Tuesday, "good" teachers will be giving model lessons before the public in Rockefeller Center.

    Sarah Garland: The Education Reform Show: Now Playing 24/7 Sarah Garland 2010

  • On Tuesday, "good" teachers will be giving model lessons before the public in Rockefeller Center.

    Sarah Garland: The Education Reform Show: Now Playing 24/7 Sarah Garland 2010

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