mayor
Americannoun
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the chief executive official, usually elected, of a city, village, or town.
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the chief magistrate of a city or borough.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mayor
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Medieval Latin major major; replacing Middle English mer, mair, from Old French maire
Explanation
The mayor is the leader of a city. He or she heads the city government. Just as a president leads a country, a mayor leads a city. Like other politicians, mayors must run for office and win an election. The word mayor comes from the Old French maire for "head of a city or town government" but most mayors probably like the original meaning, which is "greater, superior." Alas, mayors do run cities but calling them all superior is a stretch! In the United States, the president leads the country, a governor leads a state, and a mayor leads a city. If it’s used as a title for a particular mayor, as in Mayor Smith, it’s capitalized.
Vocabulary lists containing mayor
Citizenship (Civics) - Middle School
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Citizenship (Civics) - Introductory
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American Government and Civics, List 2
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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:
Voters across Greater Manchester will head to the polls on Thursday to elect a new mayor for the city region.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Burnham became the inaugural elected mayor for Greater Manchester in 2017 and was re-elected twice.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in surrounding areas, but Bordeaux's mayor said there were no plans to evacuate the urban area, home to 850,000 people and currently sheltering thousands evacuated from zones close by.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
The mayor might even have to make tough governing decisions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Phelps told the mayor that he had it on good authority that if Grabarek wanted to speak at a rally planned for that evening at St. Joseph’s Church, he was welcome to come.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Swinney said that while he plans to strengthen local council powers in Scotland, he does not support "the concept of mayors".
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Other former mayors such as Eric Adams also appointed a majority of the board’s members.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The former mayor of Greater Manchester vowed to give mayors greater control over social housing, welfare and education.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
By comparison, the combined compensation of the mayors of Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego is about $1.2 million, including retirement and health benefits, according to the data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
The local authorities, after the armistice of Neerlandia, were mayors without initiative, decorative judges picked from among the peaceful and tired Conservatives of Macondo.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
