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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

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

According to Nada's director general, Shaza Ahmed, this comes down to social stigma as the true numbers are not recorded.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

Its apparent legitimacy, officials said, rested on a single forged document - an appointment letter claiming that President Bola Tinubu had made Adeyemi the council's director general.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 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

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

"Please keep the destination in sight," urged the UN health agency's director-general.

From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 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

“Hospitals are fighting with no tools at all,” Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC, said at a briefing Saturday in Kampala, in neighboring Uganda.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026

“It may not occur to you how very important a matter this Seal is,” he wrote in a December 8, 1890, letter to George R. Davis, the fair’s director-general, its chief political officer.

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