headmaster

[hed-mas-ter, -mah-ster]

noun

1. the person in charge of a private school.

headmaster

/ ˌhɛdˈmɑːstə /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: head teacher. a male principal of a school

Other Word Forms

• headmastership noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of headmaster¹

First recorded in 1570–80; head + master

Example Sentences

Collins, born in 1940, was raised near Liverpool by a schoolteacher mother and a headmaster father.

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She said headmasters at schools that received the meals from the same kitchen should monitor their pupils.

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The White House released photos that looked like a headmaster making an errant pupil say sorry.

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"We always said he was born to be a headmaster, and sure enough, he went on to teach and become head of not one but multiple schools," he wrote.

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Months after a council decided not to investigate concerns about a headmaster's "closeness to some girls", a second safeguarding issue was raised, it has emerged.

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Related Words

• principal 
• superintendent