chairperson
Americannoun
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a person who presides over a meeting, committee, board, etc.
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the administrative head of a department in a high school, college, or university.
noun
Gender
Chairperson has, since the 1960s, come to be used widely as an alternative to either chairman or chairwoman. This change was motivated largely by a desire to avoid chairman, which was felt to be inappropriate and even sexually discriminatory when applied to a woman. Chairperson is standard in all varieties of speech and writing. Despite such widespread acceptance, some organizations and publications do not use chairperson at all, usually on the grounds that it is awkward and that chairman is a well-established generic term. Many style guides advocate use of the term chair to designate the presiding officer, thus avoiding charges of both sexism and awkwardness: Jim will be chair of the entertainment committee this year, and Jane will be chair next year. See also -man, -person, -woman.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of chairperson
First recorded in 1970–75; chair(man) + -person
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.
Ortega’s daughter, Marta Ortega Perez, is the retailer’s chairperson.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 3, 2026
“The Block family has worked to find the best possible source for responsible local journalism for the Pittsburgh region and we believe we have succeeded,” said Karen Johnese, chairperson of Block Communications.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
A former talk show host and legislator, Cheng's victory in the KMT chairperson elections last year stunned observers and many in her party, who had considered her the dark-horse candidate.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
Paul Mancha, chairperson of the youth council in Plateau state, suggested that the true number of casualties could be even higher.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
In 1893, Ida Wells-Barnett launched the first black women’s club in Chicago, recruiting an aging Mary Richardson Jones to join as honorary chairperson.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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.
