chairperson

American  

[chair-pur-suhn] / ˈtʃɛərˌpɜr sən /

noun

chairpersons plural

1. a person who presides over a meeting, committee, board, etc.

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

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chairperson British  

/ ˈtʃɛəˌpɜːsən /

noun

1. another word for chairman

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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

• chairpersonship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• chairpersons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of chairperson

First recorded in 1970–75; chair(man) + -person

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chairperson chairpersons

The council's transport chairperson, Moraig Lyall, said the report showed there were no technical barriers to building tunnels which would be "cheaper in the long run" than ferries.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

Makashule Gana, a member of another coalition partner Rise Mzansi, has been elected as chairperson of the impeachment committee.

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026

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

Late that night—two a.m.—my house chairperson pounded on my door and yelled that I had a phone call.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

In 2024, the chairpersons of 17 parent councils in Aberdeenshire wrote to the Scottish government asking for urgent action to tackle the teacher shortages in the north east.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

The panel also suggested requiring committee chairpersons to say why they are deferring a measure or not scheduling a bill for public hearing.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2023

"As a family member who has been closely involved with the business over the last few years, Marta Ortega will be significantly more involved than most non-executive chairpersons would be," Deutsche Bank's Adam Courcharne said.

From Reuters ● Apr. 1, 2022

Many are professors and chairpersons from major colleges and universities.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 16, 2019

From this point on, representatives of the Community found themselves increasingly asked to function as convenors or chairpersons of a wide range of bodies: committees, task forces, working groups and advisory boards.

From Century of Light by Baha'i International Community