manager
Americannoun
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managers
plural
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a person who has control or direction of an institution, business, etc., or of a part, division, or phase of it.
- Synonyms:
- boss, supervisor, superintendent, executive, administrator
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a person who manages.
the manager of our track team.
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a person who controls and manipulates resources and expenditures, as of a household.
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British. (formerly) a theatrical producer.
noun
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a person who directs or manages an organization, industry, shop, etc
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a person who controls the business affairs of an actor, entertainer, etc
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a person who controls the training of a sportsman or team
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a person who has a talent for managing efficiently
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law a person appointed by a court to carry on a business during receivership
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(in Britain) a member of either House of Parliament appointed to arrange a matter in which both Houses are concerned
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a computer program that organizes a resource, such as a set of files or a database
Usage
What does manager mean? Manager most commonly refers to a person who supervises employees in a company or other organization. Managers are typically somewhere in the middle level of an organization—the term most commonly refers to a person who is a boss but also has a boss. Manager is the noun form of the verb manage, which has many meanings but commonly means to be in charge of or supervise employees. Example: After six years, I’ve finally been promoted to the position of manager.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of manager
Explanation
It makes sense that a manager is someone who "manages," or takes charge of something. A baseball team manager is in charge of running the team, while a business manager oversees finances, scheduling, and the everyday operation of the business. The probable origin of the word manager comes from the Latin manus, meaning "hand." A good manager provides the necessary "hand," guiding others. The Italian maneggiare means "to control," and was especially used with reference to training horses, a job for which certain managers you've worked for might be better suited. The word extends beyond human beings as well: the file manager on your computer is a program designed to organize data.
Vocabulary lists containing manager
Like A Boss: Words for the Person in Charge
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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Words for the World Series
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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.
See Examples For:
Brewers manager Pat Murphy conceded the point — sort of.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Former Chelsea goalkeeper Carly Telford, now a commercial manager at the club, says players can access a range of services - from fertility testing and egg-freezing to IVF treatment.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Bar manager Yadier Delgado, 24, calls El Bujeco "a refuge for all the young people who still don't know what to do with themselves."
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Martin Shkreli, a former hedge-fund manager known as “Pharma Bro,” is back in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators for influencing biopharma stocks even though he is banned from being involved with the industry.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
The assistant manager snapped into action and shouted instructions to the crew.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
With many people feeling like conventional paths to wealth are broken, copy-trading platform Dub lets everyday investors automatically mirror the portfolios of hedge-fund managers, registered advisers and even politicians.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
The managers of funds offering private equity, private credit, nontraded real estate and other alternative assets say it isn’t fair that pension funds and university endowments have access to such funds while small investors don’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
This is a major departure from the historic standard of net realized gains — thus, permitting managers to pocket performance fees on temporary highs that may vanish the next year.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
But amid a churn of players and managers at Spurs, he has moved on – and Boro fans couldn't be happier.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
The boys recruited one of the crew’s student managers as pilot and navigator, and piled into the boat.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
