mayor
Americannoun
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mayors
plural
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the chief executive official, usually elected, of a city, village, or town.
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the chief magistrate of a city or borough.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mayor
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Medieval Latin major major; replacing Middle English mer, mair, from Old French maire
Explanation
The mayor is the leader of a city. He or she heads the city government. Just as a president leads a country, a mayor leads a city. Like other politicians, mayors must run for office and win an election. The word mayor comes from the Old French maire for "head of a city or town government" but most mayors probably like the original meaning, which is "greater, superior." Alas, mayors do run cities but calling them all superior is a stretch! In the United States, the president leads the country, a governor leads a state, and a mayor leads a city. If it’s used as a title for a particular mayor, as in Mayor Smith, it’s capitalized.
Vocabulary lists containing mayor
Citizenship (Civics) - Middle School
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Citizenship (Civics) - Introductory
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American Government and Civics, List 2
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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:
“This is a PR cleanup situation. This is the mayor understanding that businesses are suffering as a result of lack of access,” Shorter said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
In a telling exchange, Garcia-Navarro asked the mayor about traits that make a good politician, and then she pointed to his smile and innate optimism.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
East Midlands mayor, Claire Ward, said the government's decision was "completely unacceptable" and on recent visit to Derbyshire, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would "not abandon the ambition" of the A38 project.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
She also noted that the mayor has fixed more than 170,000 potholes, expanded universal child care, and balanced the budget amid a $12 billion deficit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
That Babs is more like the mayor of Driftaway Beach than the actual mayor.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
There is, I think, a tradition in the U.S. of appointing dogs as mayors of small towns, but in the U.K. we take the nonsense political candidate to another level entirely.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
Steven Keener, a professor of criminology at Christopher Newport University in Virginia, said residents can meet with city council members or mayors to convince them to cancel their contracts with the surveillance company.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
New York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The decision was a break in custom from previous mayors who had attended the event.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
There was something about the mayors of towns that troubled him.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
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.
