Chunk: lend one's name to
Meaning & Usage
To lend one's name to (something) means to grant one's public backing, reputation, or formal endorsement to a cause, initiative, charitable campaign, or organization. By attaching one's personal prestige or institutional standing to an external endeavor, the individual lends moral authority, social capital, and visibility outward to the recipient.
🧲 Common Collocates
- Frequent Targets: lend one's name to a cause, lend one's name to a campaign, lend one's name to a charity, lend one's name to an initiative, lend one's name to an appeal, lend one's name to a petition.
- Governing Predicates: agree to lend one's name to, refuse to lend one's name to, decline to lend one's name to, be willing to lend one's name to, be hesitant to lend one's name to.
- Syntactic Frame: lend + [possessive determiner] + name + to + [entity / movement].
💬 Contextual Examples
- The prominent architect agreed to lend his name to the urban heritage conservation campaign.
- Several Nobel laureates lent their names to the joint declaration calling for international treaty compliance.
- Mindful of reputational risk, the former governor declined to lend his name to an unvetted commercial venture.
🎴 Interactive Web Practice
Practice 1: The acclaimed author agreed to lend her ______ to the grassroots literacy foundation.
Answer:
name Practice 2: Many prominent scientists were reluctant to lend their names ______ an untested public health campaign.
Answer:
to Practice 3: The celebrity refused to ______ his name to any brand that failed strict environmental audits.
Answer:
lend 🔗 Knowledge Base Connections
- 🔑 Parent Node: Lend
- ⚖️ Related Discrimination: borrow-vs-lend