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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

He added that MI5 had committed to a major programme of reform under the leadership of director general Sir Ken McCallum.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 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

More Americans would come, said Michael Izhakov, director general of Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, if more flights were available.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 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

The corporation is currently rolling out plans to make £500m of savings, with director-general Matt Brittin previously telling staff "the scale of savings requires tough choices".

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 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

“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