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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

Inflected Forms

noun

• directors general
  plural

Etymology

Origin of director general

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

“There was continued growth in the domestic economy,” said Chris Sibley, assistant director general of the CSO.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

Moulin served as director general of the French Treasury between 2020 and 2024, overseeing economic policy and public debt.

From Barron's • May 20, 2026

WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there are currently "significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and geographic spread" of the outbreak.

From BBC • May 17, 2026

“When the U.S. launched their attack, they did not take into consideration the GCC’s security concerns,” said Mohammed Baharoon, director general of the Dubai Public Policy Research Center, a private Emirati think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026

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

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler