foreman
Americannoun
plural
foremen-
a person in charge of a particular department, group of workers, etc., as in a factory or the like.
-
the member of a jury selected to preside over and speak for all the jurors on the panel.
noun
-
Gender-neutral form: supervisor. a person, often experienced, who supervises other workmen
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Female equivalent: forewoman. law the principal juror, who presides at the deliberations of a jury
noun
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
- foremanship noun
- subforeman noun
- subforemanship noun
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.
Vocabulary lists containing foreman
Like A Boss: Words for the Person in Charge
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A Night Divided
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"One Last Time," Vocabulary from the memoir
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ivan Smith, foreman of Works at Newbridge House and Traditional Farm, said the team was "absolutely shocked" by the incident.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2025
Phillips has shipbuilding in his blood—his great-grandfather worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard starting from the 1950s and later rose to foreman.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 10, 2025
In Texas, a white foreman stopped Alvarado and his group from picking in cotton fields just before a plane covered the crop with DDT.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 10, 2025
I heard the judge ask the jury whether they had reached a decision, and the foreman answer, “Yes.”
From Slate • Oct. 6, 2025
It felt good when the foreman paid us off and I had a couple of dollars to put in my pocket.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
