foreman
noun
a person in charge of a particular department, group of workers, etc., as in a factory or the like.
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foreman
American
[fawr-muhn, fohr-]
/ ˈfɔr mən, ˈfoʊr- /
noun
-
foremen
plural
-
a person in charge of a particular department, group of workers, etc., as in a factory or the like.
-
the member of a jury selected to preside over and speak for all the jurors on the panel.
foreman
1
British
/ ˈfɔːmən /
noun
-
Gender-neutral form: supervisor. a person, often experienced, who supervises other workmen
-
Female equivalent: forewoman. law the principal juror, who presides at the deliberations of a jury
Foreman
2
British
/ ˈfɔːmən /
noun
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of foreman
1175–1225; Middle English forman chief servant, steward. See fore-, man
Explanation
On many job sites, the boss or supervisor is called the foreman. If you get a job on a construction crew, the foreman is the person in charge. While the supervisor in an office, hospital, or school has a totally different title, in manual labor it's common to use the word foreman. This is true in factories and plants, as well as on ranches and railroads. Even on a jury there's a foreman, the member who announces the group's verdict. A woman in one of these roles might be called foreman, forewoman, or foreperson. A simpler, gender-neutral compromise is to use "supervisor" instead.
Vocabulary lists containing foreman
Like A Boss: Words for the Person in Charge
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A Night Divided
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"One Last Time," Vocabulary from the memoir
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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:
The rescued men, both Nepali, were named as Sanjay Sah, 30, a mechanical foreman, as well as Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor, by Home Minister Sudan Gurung.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Later that day, the crew’s foreman was injured when he touched the line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
After the jury foreman, when asked “How say you?” answered “Guilty,” 34 times, Trump turned to face the back of the room, looking uncharacteristically stricken.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
Daniel, the foreman in this remote, informal, small-scale mine in Kono, the diamond region of Sierra Leone, shows me the gravel he's picking through with his fingers.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
When we got to camp, it was close to noon and we headed over to find the foreman.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
Lindsay and Craig Foreman were sentenced to 10 years in jail over espionage charges, which they both deny, and are being held in Evin prison.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
By the end of the protest, Craig Foreman had been on hunger strike for 93 days, and Lindsay Foreman for 84 days, the family added.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
George Foreman and Muhammad Ali climbed off the couch too many times to mention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
UN special rapporteurs Dr Alice Edwards and Mai Sato said proceedings against Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, had been marked by grave irregularities.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
It was a two-shot foul and their center, a big guy who looked like George Foreman, blew the first shot and made the second.
From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers
The colonial trade also ravaged the archipelago's forests and wrecked communities, with able-bodied men required to offer 40 days of unpaid service to fell trees and build ships under Spanish foremen.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
The biggest holdup in the fiber boom, he said, is human capital for roles including drillers, foremen, splicers and aerial linemen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026
Of course, there is no such thing as a Super Bowl of baking, or an All-Pro team of the country’s logging foremen.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 1, 2023
It shows two foremen and a boy carefully dismantling a partition wall to open up the burial chamber.
From BBC ● May 10, 2022
Doc waited at the ambulance with its crew, and Mr. Van Dyke watched with a little knot of foremen and engineers from the porch outside Dad’s office.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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.
