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Foment vs Lobby - What's the difference?

foment | lobby |

As verbs the difference between foment and lobby

is that foment is to incite or cause troublesome acts; to encourage; to instigate while lobby is to attempt to influence (a public official or decision-maker) in favor of a specific opinion or cause.

As a noun lobby is

an entryway or reception area; vestibule; passageway; corridor.

foment

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To incite or cause troublesome acts; to encourage; to instigate.
  • He was arrested for fomenting a riot; after all, it's bad enough being in a riot but starting one is much worse.
  • (medicine) To apply a poultice to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge.
  • * 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange , Norton (2005), page 1178,
  • The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment the bruise upon her mistress's brow.

    Derived terms

    * fomentation

    lobby

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) *(term), from , from (etyl) or (etyl).

    Noun

    (lobbies)
  • An entryway or reception area; vestibule; passageway; corridor.
  • I had to wait in the lobby for hours before seeing the doctor.
  • That part of a hall of legislation not appropriated to the official use of the assembly.
  • A class or group of people who try to influence public officials; collectively, lobbyists.
  • The influence of the tobacco lobby has decreased considerably in the US.
  • (video games) A virtual area where players can chat and find opponents for a game.
  • (nautical) An apartment or passageway in the fore part of an old-fashioned cabin under the quarter-deck.
  • A confined place for cattle, formed by hedges, trees, or other fencing, near the farmyard.
  • Derived terms
    * gun lobby

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (transitive) To attempt to influence (a public official or decision-maker) in favor of a specific opinion or cause.
  • For years, pro-life groups have continued to lobby hard for restrictions on abortion.
  • * 2002 , (Jim Hightower), in
  • The corporations don't have to lobby the government anymore. They are the government.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter
  • , title= Cronies and capitols , passage=Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.}}

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (-)
  • (informal) scouse (from lobscouse)
  • * My mam cooked us lobby for tea last night.