ombudsman

[om-buhdz-muhn, -man, -boodz-, awm-, om-boodz-muhn, -man, awm-]

noun

plural

ombudsmen 

1. a government official who hears and investigates complaints by private citizens against other officials or government agencies.

2. a person who investigates and attempts to resolve complaints and problems, as between employees and an employer or between students and a university.

ombudsman

/ ˈɒmbʊdzmən /

noun

1. a commissioner who acts as independent referee between individual citizens and their government or its administration

2. Formal names: Commissioner for Local Administration.  Health Service Commissioner.  Parliamentary Commissioner. (in Britain) an official, without power of sanction or mechanism of appeal, who investigates complaints of maladministration by members of the public against national or local government or its servants See also Financial Ombudsman

ombudsman

1. An official appointed by a government or other organization to investigate complaints against people in authority. This position is designed to give those with less power — the “little people” — a voice in the operation of large organizations.

Gender Note

See -man.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ombudsman¹

1910–15; < Swedish: legal representative, equivalent to ombud agent, attorney + -s ’s ¹ + -man -man

Word History and Origins

Origin of ombudsman¹

C20: from Swedish: commissioner

Example Sentences

A court-appointed privacy ombudsman said in a report filed earlier this week that he couldn’t conclude that a sale of the genetic data was consistent with 23andMe’s own privacy policies.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

To win approval of the deal, Mr Ellison agreed to install an independent ombudsman at CBS to review complaints of bias and committed to regulators that programming would reflect a diversity of view points.

Read more on BBC

Shortly after, the merger was approved by the FCC with strict political conditions: hiring an ombudsman to oversee CBS’s reporting and eliminating all of the network’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Read more on Salon

"We have really done everything we possibly can to consider this particular situation and the next step would be for that person or family to talk to the local government ombudsman," she added.

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"As we cannot legally enter a property without consent, the ombudsman confirmed our conduct in this regard was appropriate," it said.

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Related Words

• authority 
• court 
• critic 
• expert 
• inspector 
• justice 
• referee