chaperone

or chap·er·on

[ shap-uh-rohn ]

noun

1. a person, usually a married or older woman, who, for propriety, accompanies a young unmarried woman in public or who attends a party of young unmarried men and women.

   Synonyms: escort

2. any adult present in order to maintain order or propriety at an activity of young people, as at a school dance.
3. a round headdress of stuffed cloth with wide cloth streamers that fall from the crown or are draped around it, worn in the 15th century.

verb (used with object)

1. to attend or accompany as chaperone.

   Synonyms: escort

verb (used without object)

1. to act as chaperone.

Other Words From

• chap·er·on·age [shap, -, uh, -roh-nij], noun
• chaper·onless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of chaperone¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Middle French: “hood, cowl,” equivalent to chape cape ¹ + -eron noun suffix; figurative sense from French (18th century)

Example Sentences

From her home in Denmark, Popal had warned players to burn their jerseys and not leave their homes — girls and women are forbidden from playing sports under the Taliban — and urged them not to leave their homes without a male chaperone.

From Washington Post

Women were systematically victimized under the Taliban, dependent on male chaperones to leave their homes and unable to access education.

From Time

By Thursday afternoon, the tally of positive cases included 47 staff members and 29 campers or chaperones who were not working on campus, Rybka said.

From The Daily Beast

The two were inseparable, with Culotta acting as a chaperone, staffer, and trusted confidante to Spears.

From The Daily Beast

The high school itself was not hosting or helping, but individual teachers had volunteered as chaperones.

From Washington Post

Later, after marrying a farmer, she is told that she cannot sell her vegetables at the market in Chicago without a male chaperone.

From The Daily Beast

Posing for a picture with 49 bright-eyed students from India, mathematics teacher (turned chaperone) Mr. Uniyal looks stressed.

From The Daily Beast

He hosted a poetry contest and a talent show, acted as a chaperone for dances, and attended football games.

From The Daily Beast

She was a blushing bride of seventeen, a sad and stoic wife, a loving mother, an embittered chaperone, and a daughter pushed away.

From The Daily Beast

She was accompanied to the interview with her new Scientology “chaperone.”

From The Daily Beast

Her smile had in it some suggestion of the reserve of the chaperone.

From Project Gutenberg

And this is the room of all others to get in order, as I fancy Miss Cox, our chaperone, will occupy it.

From Project Gutenberg

"He will be along this evening with Miss Cox, our chaperone, and we want to get everything in order before he comes," said Dum.

From Project Gutenberg

"It would be a pretty piece of business for me to come down here as a chaperone and then be a baby," she said.

From Project Gutenberg

I have saved up the most important to the last:—our chaperone, Miss Cox, has gone and got herself engaged!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• matron