chauffeur
Americannoun
-
chauffeurs
plural
-
a person employed to drive a private automobile or limousine for the owner.
-
a person employed to drive a car or limousine that transports paying passengers.
verb (used with object)
-
chauffeurs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chauffeured,
past participle, past
-
chauffeuring
present participle
-
to drive (a vehicle) as a chauffeur.
-
to transport by car.
Saturday mornings I have to chauffeur the kids to their music lessons.
verb (used without object)
-
chauffeurs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chauffeured,
past participle, past
-
chauffeuring
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
chauffeursimple
-
chauffeurssimple
-
have chauffeuredperfect
-
has chauffeuredperfect
-
am chauffeuringprogressive
-
are chauffeuringprogressive
-
is chauffeuringprogressive
-
have been chauffeuringperfect progressive
-
has been chauffeuringperfect progressive
Past
-
chauffeuredsimple
-
had chauffeuredperfect
-
was chauffeuringprogressive
-
were chauffeuringprogressive
-
had been chauffeuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chauffeur
1895–1900; < French, equivalent to chauff(er ) to heat ( see chafe) + -eur -eur
Explanation
Do you pay someone to drive you around? Then you have a private chauffeur. Chauffeur literally means "operator of a steam engine" in French, but they used it as a nickname for the first motorists who drove steam engine cars. Today chauffeurs are just the guys you pay to drive you around, like the chauffeur of a limo. Chauffeur can also be used as a verb: once you get your driver's license, your parents will be happy to not have to chauffeur you back and forth to school.
Vocabulary lists containing chauffeur
English Words Derived from French, List 3
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List 10
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A Confederacy of Dunces
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mulholland grabbed his assistant and told his chauffeur to head there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
His parents worked for a wealthy family, his mother as a cook and his father as a chauffeur.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
The temporary chauffeur, freshly hired by New England, was named Josh McDaniels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
The actor brought Lee the script, a reimagined take on a novel that once inspired a 1963 Akira Kurosawa film about a class divide involving a kidnapping, a businessman and a chauffeur.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025
When I woke up they made me go with the chauffeur up to the villa.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Items Manifold listed at the time included the use of chauffeurs and private jets, and blocks of tickets to Wimbledon tennis matches purchased for employees and clients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
The business, which also offered customers access to jets, homes and chauffeurs, gained a loyal following among local rappers and social media influencers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2026
John Lennon, who in life was such a terrible driver that he hired chauffeurs for the safety of those around him, is in command of the main spaceship.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2023
State lawmakers responded by requiring seatbelts for all passengers and commercial driver’s licenses for chauffeurs.
From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2023
Not only did they protect him, but he used them to run errands, serve as chauffeurs and occasional dinner companions, and be available to do whatever else he wanted at any hour.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Infantino arrived at Fifa's offices in Rabat, Morocco on Wednesday in now-familiar fashion, chauffeured to the building in a motorcade, sitting in the back of a Mercedes with blacked out windows.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
A videographer captured Moore throwing $20 bills in the air as he walked through a flower arch and then leaving for prom in a chauffeured Bentley.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Besides security services at home and during personal travel, that can include elaborate home-alarm systems, bodyguards or company cars chauffeured by specially trained drivers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
A chauffeured black SUV pulls up to the curb outside Destroyer in Culver City and out jumps Zara Larsson like somebody riding a float in the Rose Parade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
We were paraded across stages before adoring audiences, chauffeured about in limousines, and treated like royalty at luxurious hotels.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
Cars and drivers are typically pitched to shareholders as a security expense, not a chauffeuring perk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Gomez immediately replied while protesters shouted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” at a fleet of electric Cadillac Escalades chauffeuring Noma L.A.’s first round of diners in for lunch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
They are thankful to American Airlines for getting them here and assisting them by chauffeuring them from hospital to hospital in search of their son.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 27, 2023
The technology went from a perpetual “six months away” to chauffeuring masses of riders this year as both companies gathered experience in pilot cities and used that knowledge to expand to others.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2023
“More money in chauffeuring and dog-sitting,” she mumbled.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
