chairman
Americannoun
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chairmen
plural
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the presiding officer of a meeting, committee, board, etc.
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the administrative head of a department in a high school, college, or university.
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someone employed to carry or wheel a person in a chair.
verb (used with object)
noun
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Also called: chairperson. chairwoman. a person who presides over a company's board of directors, a committee, a debate, an administrative department, etc
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history someone who carries a sedan chair
Usage
Chairman can seem inappropriate when applied to a woman, while chairwoman can be offensive. Chair and chairperson can be applied to either a man or a woman; chair is generally preferred to chairperson
Gender
Is it chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson? See chairperson.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of chairman
Explanation
A chairman is the leader of a business meeting or group. The chairman often opens a meeting by addressing the group and explaining what the agenda will be. Charities, clubs, and the boards of companies have a chairman who acts as president or leader. The noun chairman can refer to this person, whether male or female, though sometimes a woman is called a chairwoman. These days, it's more common still to simply call her (or him) a chair. The word chairman comes from a sense of "occupying a chair of authority," while "presiding member of a corporate body" first emerged in the 18th century.
Vocabulary lists containing chairman
The Legislative Branch, Sections 4–6
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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:
Earlier this year, FCC chairman Brendan Carr made the extraordinary demand that ABC file for renewals for eight of its owned-and-operated stations years ahead of schedule.
From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2026
From a new private townhouse in Milan to a sprawling Fifth Avenue flagship, Moncler chairman Remo Ruffini reflects on his vision for scaling his $16 billion empire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
He is vice chairman of American Global Strategies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Amid homage to Bowen, singing about bubbles and West Ham being 'massive', the visiting supporters also chanted repeatedly about former chairman David Sullivan.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
I was an Outstanding Student, an Excellent Young Pioneer, and even the da-dui-zhang, the student chairman of the whole school.
From "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution" by Ji-li Jiang
Although dissents aren’t rare, Fed chairmen have often sought to project leadership by soliciting consensus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Earlier Fed chairmen have worked to further Fed independence and accountability by bolstering the role of the Federal Reserve Banks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Most chairmen leave when their terms expire, but they do not have to -- and Powell could remain a governor until 2028.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
Her cousin, Martin Edwards, took over when his father died in 1980, and became one of the chairmen who helped form the Premier League.
From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2025
I started calling department chairmen to ask for another week, another ten days—‘more time to reach a decision’— to avoid the decision I would have to make.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
As such he supervised the corporation's financial affairs, chairmaned some of its most important committees.
From Time Magazine Archive
Except for Joseph Patrick Kennedy, who chairmaned the Commission for its first ten months and got it off to a handsome start, he has been its only boss.
From Time Magazine Archive
It provides that all legal disputes which may arise between Austria and Czechoslovakia are to be submitted to an impartial commission chairmaned by an appointee of the Swiss Government.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Senate committee, chairmaned by Florida's New-Dealing Pepper, proposed to do something to better the nation's health.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was late in the afternoon of the same day that the Federative Council sent its committee, chairmaned by Engineer Scott, to interview the ex-general manager at his rooms in the Clarendon.
From The Grafters by Francis Lynde
Before the Appropriations subcommittee chairmanned by Colorado's compact little Senator Adams, Alabama's gift to the drama tossed aside her blue felt hat, perched herself on the table and read a prepared statement.
From Time Magazine Archive
Directly behind the 13-man labor committee, chairmanned by Utah's bald and scholarly Elbert Duncan Thomas, sat Mrs. Taft placidly knitting on a sweater for a grandson.
From Time Magazine Archive
Four House Democrats and three Republicans conducted the investigation, chairmanned by Democrat John W. Mc-Cormack of South Boston, precipitated by the anti-Nazi outcries of Democrat Samuel Dickstein of Manhattan.
From Time Magazine Archive
On that date the Quintuplets' Board of Guardians, chairmanned by Ontario Surrogate H. R. Valin, will hand them over for future bringing up to the gentle Grey Nuns of Ontario's Pembroke Diocese.
From Time Magazine Archive
That was bad news for Mississippi's Senator Stephens who was not only up for re-election but also chairmanned the Senate Committee before which the Thorp nomination was pending.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
