foreman

American  

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

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.

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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

• foremanship noun
• subforeman noun
• subforemanship noun

Etymology

Origin of foreman

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

Example Sentences

With his breath condensing in clouds in temperatures double figures below zero, a foreman summed the attitude that is common here, when I asked him why Russia was attacking them.

From BBC

And after she came back to California and got married, she and her husband, the Rindge ranch foreman, started up a Guernsey milk business that became one of the biggest dairy operations in the world.

From Los Angeles Times

The biggest holdup in the fiber boom, he said, is human capital for roles including drillers, foremen, splicers and aerial linemen.

From The Wall Street Journal

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

From Salon

My father, Rudy, was the foreman at Associated Transport, a huge trucking company with a branch in Richmond that went bankrupt.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• superintendent
• supervisor