chairman

Pluralchairmen

Formschairmans, chairmaning, chairmaned

1. 1
   board leadernouncountable

   The person who presides over a meeting, committee, or board, or who heads an organization's board.

   The chairman of the supervisory board resigned amid the scandal.

   As chairman, she set the agenda for every quarterly meeting.

   UsageOften chairman of a board or company. Many organizations now prefer chair or chairperson, which do not assume a man.

   Similarhead

   Note

   The word covers both the person running a single meeting and a standing office, which can be full-time and can head a board for years. Placed directly before a name, the word works as a title and takes a capital, as in Chairman Mao.

2. 2
   be in chargeverbtransitive

   To serve as the chairman of a board, committee, or meeting.

   UsageThe usual verb is chair: chair a meeting, chair a committee.

   Similarchair, lead

   Note

   A verb made straight from the noun, and its spelling has not settled: chairmaned and chairmanned, chairmaning and chairmanning stand side by side. The doubled n copies man, manned; the single n treats the last syllable as unstressed, as in summoned. The third-person form is chairmans, never chairmen, which is only the plural noun. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The verb chairman is formed by conversion from the noun. brill.com
   • Both single-n and double-n past and participial forms are recognized; the third-person singular is chairmans and the plural noun is chairmen. en.wiktionary.org
   • Chairmen is the plural noun rather than the third-person singular verb. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   nounUScountableus

   A professor who leads an academic department at a college or university, overseeing its staff and running its affairs.

   As chairman of the history department, he hires new faculty and sets the course schedule each semester.

   Three department chairmen signed the letter asking the provost to restore their budgets.

   Similarchair, head, chairperson

   Note

   An academic title that belongs chiefly to American usage. It is normally tied to a named department: chairman of the history department, or simply department chairman, with chairmen in the plural. Unlike the head of a board, this chairman is one of the professors in the department being led, so the post is held by a colleague of the people it manages.

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