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.
Gender-neutral form: supervisor. a person, often experienced, who supervises other workmen
Female equivalent: forewoman. law the principal juror, who presides at the deliberations of a jury
See -man.
1175–1225; Middle English forman chief servant, steward. See fore-, man
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Daniel, the foreman in this remote, informal, small-scale mine in Kono, the diamond region of Sierra Leone, shows me the gravel he's picking through with his fingers.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
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 ● Feb. 14, 2026
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.
From Salon ● Nov. 19, 2025
Since Dad was who he was, she could always be counted on to know the latest on what the company was planning and which foreman was up and which was down.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
"Lindsay and Craig Foreman should not be in prison," said UN special rapporteurs Dr Alice Edwards and Mai Sato.
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
UN special rapporteurs Dr Alice Edwards and Mai Sato said proceedings against Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, had been marked by grave irregularities.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 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
Maybe we can follow this one up with dancing and refreshments. 6TH JUROR: Mr. Foreman?
From "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose
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
Hourly wages under the limited energy electrician contract heading into negotiations range from $17 for entry-level installers to $51.96 for foremen.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 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
The first to go were the “notables” of the block, the Stubenalteste, the Kapos, the foremen, all of whom were in perfect physical condition, of course!
From "Night" by Elie Wiesel
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.
