chairman

American  

[chair-muhn] / ˈtʃɛər mən /

noun

plural

chairmen

1. the presiding officer of a meeting, committee, board, etc.

2. the administrative head of a department in a high school, college, or university.

3. someone employed to carry or wheel a person in a chair.

---

verb (used with object)

chairmaned, chairmanned, chairmaning, chairmanning

1. to act as or be chairman of (a meeting, committee, etc.).

chairman British  

/ ˈtʃɛəmən /

noun

1. Also called: chairperson.   chairwoman.  a person who presides over a company's board of directors, a committee, a debate, an administrative department, etc

2. 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

• chairmanship noun

Etymology

Origin of chairman

First recorded in 1645–55; chair + -man

Example Sentences

Jim Pearson, the charity's deputy chief executive and chairman of Childhood Dementia Scotland, said in the report that childhood dementia remained "largely invisible" within health, social care and education systems.

From BBC

Rich McKay, chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, said the league has the infrastructure to intervene and help out in those situations.

From Los Angeles Times

“It would be very, very irresponsible for Western companies to continue to wait until we have a peaceful country,” Guy Robert Lukama, former chairman of Gécamines, Congo’s state-owned mining company, told the Journal.

From The Wall Street Journal

Krishna Guha, vice chairman of Evercore ISI, said the Fed could cut for a few reasons — either good news on inflation or bad news on the labor market.

From MarketWatch

The rapid growth of AI and its surging energy demand is "making nuclear really part of the solution set now," said Ho Nieh, chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at CERAWeek.

From Barron's

Related Words

• administrator
• chairperson
• chairwoman
• director
• leader
• spokesman