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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Stuart Little
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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:
He said neither he nor his branch chairman had been aware that the comment had been posted, and that both he and the local branch would "totally distance ourselves" from the message.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
First and foremost, he is not the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee—that is Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
N Chandrasekaran, Air India chairman, said: "Having completed the initial phase of stabilisation, integration, and fleet commitments under Campbell's guidance, Air India is now entering a critical execution and expansion era."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
A month later, it unexpectedly removed Albert Manifold as BP chairman, citing "serious concerns" about governance standards, oversight and conduct at the company, which he has denied.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
“I think Alan Greenspan will go down as the worst chairman of the Federal Reserve in history,” he’d say, when given the slightest chance.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
“Fed chairmen don’t get those seven votes just by showing up,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 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
There are dedicated recruitment staff at many clubs now but managers and chairmen still need a free week before any deadline, so please use some common sense and stop this madness!
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 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 wrote a note to all the chairmen of English departments who had offered me jobs.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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
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
As such he supervised the corporation's financial affairs, chairmaned some of its most important committees.
From Time Magazine Archive
It provides that all legal disputes which may arise between Austria and Czechoslovakia are to be submitted to an impartial commission chairmaned by an appointee of the Swiss Government.
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 Lynde, Francis
Because of shrewdly worded British reservations the Import Duties Advisory Committee chairmanned by hatchet-faced, be-monocled Sir George May can up tariffs to protect any British industry which asked protection before the "truce" was signed.
From Time Magazine Archive
He took a conspicuous but uninspired part in G. O. Politics, chairmanned the 1930 Senatorial Campaign committee.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Yale he played some football, some golf, chairmanned the Yale Graphic.
From Time Magazine Archive
In London the German and Italian Ambassadors fortnight ago showed the solidarity of Berlin and Rome by arriving together for sessions of the increasingly farcical International Committee for Non-intervention chairmanned by Lord Plymouth.
From Time Magazine Archive
On that date the Quintuplets' Board of Guardians, chairmanned by Ontario Surrogate H. R. Valin, will hand them over for future bringing up to the gentle Grey Nuns of Ontario's Pembroke Diocese.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
