chairman
Americannoun
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chairmen
plural
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the presiding officer of a meeting, committee, board, etc.
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the administrative head of a department in a high school, college, or university.
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someone employed to carry or wheel a person in a chair.
verb (used with object)
noun
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Also called: chairperson, chairwoman. a person who presides over a company's board of directors, a committee, a debate, an administrative department, etc
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history someone who carries a sedan chair
Usage
Chairman can seem inappropriate when applied to a woman, while chairwoman can be offensive. Chair and chairperson can be applied to either a man or a woman; chair is generally preferred to chairperson
Gender
Is it chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson? See chairperson.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of chairman
Explanation
A chairman is the leader of a business meeting or group. The chairman often opens a meeting by addressing the group and explaining what the agenda will be. Charities, clubs, and the boards of companies have a chairman who acts as president or leader. The noun chairman can refer to this person, whether male or female, though sometimes a woman is called a chairwoman. These days, it's more common still to simply call her (or him) a chair. The word chairman comes from a sense of "occupying a chair of authority," while "presiding member of a corporate body" first emerged in the 18th century.
Vocabulary lists containing chairman
The Legislative Branch, Sections 4–6
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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:
Posting on their social media on Friday, Villa released a statement signed by their chairman Nassef Sawiris accusing Carragher of insulting the Premier League side and its fans.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Warren, all they’re doing is lying a little bit to make the money come in,” added Buffett’s vice chairman, the late Charlie Munger.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
Nazarian is chairman of the Council’s recently formed Ad Hoc Committee on Film, Entertainment and the Creative Industry, aimed at making filming in L.A. more accessible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Jet de Ranitz, NPO's executive chairman, acknowledged their decision would disappoint many Dutch Eurovision fans and stressed that the contest would still be aired on the public channels.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
The word came from John Slater, MIT’s physics chairman, who was passing on thirdhand information from a National Research Fellow in his laboratory, who heard it from a friend at Harvard working at Raytheon part-time.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
The term lasts four years, but most chairmen serve longer and there are no term limits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Indeed, Warsh was less willing than previous Fed chairmen to speculate much on the path of the economy, inflation and interest rates during his first press conference.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Manifold’s abrupt departure adds to BP’s leadership turmoil, which has seen four CEOs and three chairmen since 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Most chairmen leave when their terms expire, but they do not have to -- and Powell could remain a governor until 2028.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
I started calling department chairmen to ask for another week, another ten days—‘more time to reach a decision’— to avoid the decision I would have to make.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
At Edinburgh in 1910 he chairmaned the great interdenominational world conference, out of which evolved in 1920 the I.M.C., which he has headed ever since.
From Time Magazine Archive
Except for Joseph Patrick Kennedy, who chairmaned the Commission for its first ten months and got it off to a handsome start, he has been its only boss.
From Time Magazine Archive
As such he supervised the corporation's financial affairs, chairmaned some of its most important committees.
From Time Magazine Archive
In Manhattan last week famed, forthright Physiologist Anton J. Carlson of the University of Chicago chairmaned a meeting aimed at overcoming this situation.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was late in the afternoon of the same day that the Federative Council sent its committee, chairmaned by Engineer Scott, to interview the ex-general manager at his rooms in the Clarendon.
From The Grafters by Francis Lynde
These experts were chairmanned by Sir John Maffey and the official character of the document was so self-evident that the British Foreign Office was constrained to admit its genuineness, although deprecating it as "old."
From Time Magazine Archive
In 1941 he chairmanned the U.S.O.'s $10 million fund-raising drive.
From Time Magazine Archive
His plan: an Industry Council made up of an equal number of representatives from management and S. W. O. C., chairmanned by a Government man.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Yale he played some football, some golf, chairmanned the Yale Graphic.
From Time Magazine Archive
Directly behind the 13-man labor committee, chairmanned by Utah's bald and scholarly Elbert Duncan Thomas, sat Mrs. Taft placidly knitting on a sweater for a grandson.
From Time Magazine Archive
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