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Synonyms

headhunter

American  
[hed-huhn-ter] / ˈhɛdˌhʌn tər /

noun

  1. a person who engages in headhunting.

  2. a personnel recruiter for a corporation or executive recruitment agency.

  3. an executive recruitment agency.

Etymology

Origin of headhunter

First recorded in 1850–55; head + hunter

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.

ByteDance, which has the biggest AI team in Chinese tech, sometimes pays salaries two or three times the market average to recruit top talent, said industry headhunter Shen Wei.

From Barron's • Feb. 14, 2026

He quickly shut down a headhunter who had reached out to him.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025

The Hammer board will need time to select a headhunter to begin the sure-to-be-lengthy search for a new director.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 18, 2023

My question: He’s hounding me for my headhunter contacts.

From New York Times • Apr. 19, 2023

And then just a few weeks later I get this call from the headhunter.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

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.