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• director general
  director general

  noun

  the executive head of an organization or of a major subdivision, as a branch or agency, of government.
• director-general
  director-general

  noun

  the head of a large organization such as the CBI or BBC

director general

American  

noun

• directors general
  plural

1. the executive head of an organization or of a major subdivision, as a branch or agency, of government.

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director-general British  

noun

1. the head of a large organization such as the CBI or BBC

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• directors general
  plural

Etymology

Origin of director general

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

director general director-general

"Families are being forced to flee for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left," Amy Pope, the IOM's director general, warned last week.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

NCA director general of operations Rob Jones said the agency was "devoting more resources to tackling organised immigration crime than ever before".

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week that the verification arrangements appeared to be adequate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin said the organisation was "alarmed by a situation that has now lasted for more than 20 days".

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Perhaps Yi Young-hoon, the director general of the National Museum of Korea, said it best.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

On Thursday Rafael Grossi, the capable director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed indications of “movement” around the construction site.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

BBC director-general Matt Brittin said the savings announced on Wednesday are aimed at delivering about £160m of the overall £500m target, which will see an reduction to headcount of around 1,800 to 2,000 jobs.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

The agency's director-general Gilbert Houngbo "has decided to rescind the appointment of the deputy director-general, considering continued delays in the payment of arrears", the ILO said in a statement.

From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Monday that the outbreak was outpacing response efforts, partly because of “significant distrust of outside authorities.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

“Everyone who defects has adjustment problems,” Ko Gyoung-bin, the director-general of Hanawon, told me when I visited the place.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden