committee

American  

[kuh-mit-ee] / kəˈmɪt i /

noun

• committees
  plural

1. 

   a person or group of persons elected or appointed to perform some service or function, as to investigate, report on, or act upon a particular matter.

2. standing committee.

3. Law. an individual to whom the care of a person or a person's estate is committed.

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committee British  

noun

1. a group of people chosen or appointed to perform a specified service or function

2. (formerly) a person to whom the care of a mentally incompetent person or his property was entrusted by a court See also receiver

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• committeeism
  noun
• committeeship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• committees
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of committee

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Anglo-French; see commit, -ee

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Explanation

A committee is a group of people who come together to work on a project. Members of a committee commit their efforts to accomplishing a particular task, which can be anything from throwing a party to ending a war. You could join the Committee to Protect Groundhogs, Bumblebees and Chickadees (yes, there really is one), or you might aspire to a committee that debates questions of national importance. Committees are often subgroups of larger bodies, and the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Agriculture, which focuses on issues in the farming and poultry industries, is a good example. Committee members become experts on issues in agriculture and the group can then make informed decisions efficiently.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

committee committees

Amarillo billionaire Alex Fairly, meanwhile, had maxed out to Paxton’s direct campaign account with a $7,000 donation in the spring; in late August, he gave $274,300 to Paxton’s joint fundraising committee.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

Arduous tests loom during the second half of the season, however, making the chances of getting the nod from the CFP selection committee a coin flip at best.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Speaking at an International Monetary Fund event in Bangkok, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh declined to give any rate guidance ahead of the October meeting of the central bank’s rate-setting committee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Policymakers have to decide whether the forecast comes from the policy committee or is done by the staff, and to what degree the forecast is based on judgment versus models.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

The House went into committee of the whole to revise the language of the report.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Some of the engineers, including Grewal, will sit on investment committees and boards of its companies, executives said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

This summer, it cleared two House committees unanimously.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

While maternal mortality review committees closely examine the deaths of mothers during the first year of a child's life, the researchers say paternal mortality has received little comparable attention.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

It did not include contributions to party committees or independent committees that could also be spending in these races.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

But the piece would at least give Jesse and Eric something to send to college admissions committees.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

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Related Words

• board
• bureau
• cabinet
• chamber
• commission
• jury
• panel
• task force

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