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• foreman
  foreman

  noun

  a person in charge of a particular department, group of workers, etc., as in a factory or the like.
• Foreman
  Foreman

  noun

  George . born 1949, US boxer: world heavyweight champion (1973–74); retired in 1977 but re-entered the ring in 1987 and won the heavyweight championship in 1994 at age 45

foreman

American  

[fawr-muhn, fohr-] / ˈfɔr mən, ˈfoʊr- /

noun

• foremen
  plural

1. a person in charge of a particular department, group of workers, etc., as in a factory or the like.

2. the member of a jury selected to preside over and speak for all the jurors on the panel.

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foreman ¹ British  

/ ˈfɔːmən /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: supervisor.  a person, often experienced, who supervises other workmen

2. Female equivalent: forewoman.  law the principal juror, who presides at the deliberations of a jury

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Foreman ² British  

/ ˈfɔːmən /

noun

1. George . born 1949, US boxer: world heavyweight champion (1973–74); retired in 1977 but re-entered the ring in 1987 and won the heavyweight championship in 1994 at age 45

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Gender

See -man.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• foremanship
  noun
• subforeman
  noun
• subforemanship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• foremen
  plural

Etymology

Origin of foreman

1175–1225; Middle English forman chief servant, steward. See fore-, man

Explanation

On many job sites, the boss or supervisor is called the foreman. If you get a job on a construction crew, the foreman is the person in charge. While the supervisor in an office, hospital, or school has a totally different title, in manual labor it's common to use the word foreman. This is true in factories and plants, as well as on ranches and railroads. Even on a jury there's a foreman, the member who announces the group's verdict. A woman in one of these roles might be called foreman, forewoman, or foreperson. A simpler, gender-neutral compromise is to use "supervisor" instead.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foreman Foreman foremen

Later that day, the crew’s foreman was injured when he touched the line.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

After the jury foreman, when asked “How say you?” answered “Guilty,” 34 times, Trump turned to face the back of the room, looking uncharacteristically stricken.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

But the site's foreman, a committed revolutionary called Orlando Diaz, insists they are a well-ventilated, smart solution to the capital's acute housing crisis.

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

Instead, only the foreman signed off on it — the legal equivalent of pulling a fast one on the judicial process.

From Salon ● Dec. 14, 2025

Now that the foreman had returned—dressed up in a coat and tie, of all things! —the policeman was leaving the premises.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

By the end of the protest, Craig Foreman had been on hunger strike for 93 days, and Lindsay Foreman for 84 days, the family added.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Craig and Lindsay Foreman have both been on hunger strike since May, when prison authorities preventing them from calling their families.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

George Foreman and Muhammad Ali climbed off the couch too many times to mention.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Craig and Lindsay Foreman, from East Sussex, have been held since January 2025 and were sentenced to 10 years in February on espionage charges which they deny.

From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026

“First of all I’m a gun collector,” said former city councilman Vern Foreman.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

The colonial trade also ravaged the archipelago's forests and wrecked communities, with able-bodied men required to offer 40 days of unpaid service to fell trees and build ships under Spanish foremen.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

Construction-software firms are selling AI-powered tools that can assist site managers and foremen with work like analyzing sites for potential safety violations—tasks AI models can accomplish by searching through and synthesizing large amounts of data.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026

Three construction foremen taking a break in an alleyway on a recent Wednesday are among the most coveted voters in the country: middle-aged Black men and union members, living in Pennsylvania, the largest battleground state.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2024

Besides the Egyptian labourers used to clear the tomb site, Carter also employed skilled Egyptian foremen, including Ahmed Gerigar, Gad Hassan, Hussein Abu Awad and Hussein Ahmed Said.

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2022

Except for the guns, they could be foremen coming to collect on a bill or to supervise a job that other men will sweat over.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

Related Words

• superintendent
• supervisor