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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
“Arista is off to a strong start in Q1 2026, with both our results and our industry-leading net promoter score,” Chairperson and CEO Jayshree Ullal said.
From Barron's • May 5, 2026
“Judge Cole’s misconduct is serious and undermined the integrity of, and respect for, the judiciary,” Commission Chairperson Michael Moodian said in the report.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2024
“There’s no part of writing that where we try to limit any kind of speech,” Planning Board Chairperson Benjamin Colbath said at a March 28 meeting.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 10, 2024
RSA Chairperson Liz O'Donnell said more must be done and welcomed the "proposed introduction of a national strategy on camera-based enforcement which, I understand, will be prioritised in 2024".
From BBC • Jan. 1, 2024
The afternoon session was to begin at 1:30, but Senator Rickfield was nowhere to be found, so the Assistant Chairperson of the committee, Junior Senator Nancy Deere assumed control.
From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Schwartau, Winn
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.
