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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

MI5's director general, Sir Ken McCallum, apologised for any distress caused by "mistakes in the litigation"

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

AfricaMuseum director general Bart Ouvry said the Belgian institution turned down KoBold's offer over concerns about giving a single private actor privileged access.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

"The inspections will indeed take place," International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi told reporters in Japan.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

There was no immediate comment by the IAEA, whose director general, Rafael Grossi, is at the talks in Switzerland.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

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

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

The BBC is "working hard" on regenerating Doctor Who, director-general Matt Brittin has said.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 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

The director-general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, has warned repeatedly about the risk of a radioactive incident at such plants.

From Salon ● May 21, 2026

The fair’s director-general, George Davis, at first refused to believe it.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson