chairman

[ chair-muhn ]

noun

, plural chair·men.

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)

, chair·maned or chair·manned, chair·man·ing or chair·man·ning.

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

chairman

/ ˈtʃɛəmən /

noun

1. Also calledchairpersonfemchairwoman 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

Gender Note

Is it chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson? See chairperson.

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

Derived Forms

• ˈchairmanˌship, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of chairman¹

First recorded in 1645–55; chair + -man

Example Sentences

Bezos says he’ll stick around, Bill Gates-style, as executive chairman.

From Fortune

When Gensler took his position as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the Obama administration, observers were skeptical — he had, after all, been a partner at Goldman Sachs.

From ProPublica

Verizon’s expanded digital approach to Super Bowl is not surprising to Vince Thompson, founder, chairman and CEO of MELT sports marketing and branding agency.

From Digiday

At the time, its executive chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said that it was on track to raise $400 million — so this represents a more-than threefold increase on that amount.

From TechCrunch

Brian Action, a co-founder of the Facebook-owned WhatsApp service, is the executive chairman of the Signal Foundation.

From Fortune

Their friendship began when Krauss, who was chairman of the physics department at Case Western in Cleveland, sought out Epstein.

From The Daily Beast

It seems Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal is a big fan of the idea, too.

From The Daily Beast

Leaked emails show Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal confessing that the dashing Elba should be 007.

From The Daily Beast

Occasionally Lew Wasserman, the chairman of MCA and one of Hitchcock's oldest friends, rings up just to see how he is.

From The Daily Beast

He recently put up $50 million for half the cost of the Kennedy Center expansion, where he is chairman of the board.

From The Daily Beast

Probably the chairman and directors of the company were also present, but our eyes were not for them.

From Project Gutenberg

That he was an autocratic chairman, his brother directors, were they now living, would I am sure attest.

From Project Gutenberg

I've got them split up into shifts, along with a double of the chairman there, to cover the six machines.

From Project Gutenberg

Immediately after, a lady presented herself at the door and asked the chairman to introduce me to her.

From Project Gutenberg

Loud cheers from all sides, and a good-humoured nod from the chairman greeted this announcement.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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