foreman

[fawr-muhn, fohr-]

noun

plural

foremen 

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.

foreman

¹

/ 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

Foreman

²

/ 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

Gender Note

See -man.

Other Word Forms

• foremanship noun
• subforeman noun
• subforemanship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of foreman¹

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

Example Sentences

Halligan told Nachmanoff she brought an altered indictment to the grand jury’s foreman and had them sign off on it without another vote from the full jury.

Read more on Salon

Anderson is also in want of a blacksmith and nailer to be paid wages as a foreman, which would therefore make them white.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Phillips has shipbuilding in his blood—his great-grandfather worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard starting from the 1950s and later rose to foreman.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“I remember the first hiatus where the general foreman said, ‘I’ll see you next season.’

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In Texas, a white foreman stopped Alvarado and his group from picking in cotton fields just before a plane covered the crop with DDT.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• superintendent 
• supervisor