chairman

[ chair-muhn ]
See synonyms for chairman on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural chair·men.
  1. the presiding officer of a meeting, committee, board, etc.

  2. the administrative head of a department in a high school, college, or university.

  1. someone employed to carry or wheel a person in a chair.

verb (used with object),chair·maned or chair·manned, chair·man·ing or chair·man·ning.
  1. to act as or be chairman of (a meeting, committee, etc.).

Origin of chairman

1
First recorded in 1645–55; chair + -man

usage note For chairman

Is it chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson? See chairperson.

Words that may be confused with chairman

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use chairman in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chairman

chairman

/ (ˈtʃɛəmən) /


nounplural -men
  1. Also called: chairperson, (fem) chairwoman a person who presides over a company's board of directors, a committee, a debate, an administrative department, etc

  2. history someone who carries a sedan chair

usage For chairman

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

Derived forms of chairman

  • chairmanship, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012