chairman
Americannoun
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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:
Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre, has previously told BBC that Wildberries' website had been used by Russian volunteers to buy military equipment.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
He stepped down as Amazon's chief executive in 2021 to become executive chairman, although he still owns 8% of the company.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
“A robot is a complex system, there are many, many components,” said Wang Xiaogang, the chairman of Chinese firm Ace Robotics, in an interview at the conference.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
The new Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh, has said he isn’t interested in splitting hairs, adding that he prefers to focus on how the inflation rate looks “to the left of the decimal point.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
There was no chairman nor was there any time when the two boys were supposed to withdraw.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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
I managed 10 clubs and had eight chairmen who were local owners.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2025
In previous eras, Fed chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke referred to the “bond-yield conundrum,” when despite their repeated hiking of interest rates, long-term bond yields kept falling.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 5, 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
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
In Manhattan last week famed, forthright Physiologist Anton J. Carlson of the University of Chicago chairmaned a meeting aimed at overcoming this situation.
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 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 Lynde, Francis
In 1941 he chairmanned the U.S.O.'s $10 million fund-raising drive.
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
For four years he has chairmanned the Federal Council's Commission on a Just and Durable Peace.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Yale he played some football, some golf, chairmanned the Yale Graphic.
From Time Magazine Archive
Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, chairmanned by President Hoover's great & good friend Henry Mauris Robinson, reported a ratio of cash & Governments to deposits of 26%.
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.
