foreman
Americannoun
plural
foremen-
a person in charge of a particular department, group of workers, etc., as in a factory or the like.
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the member of a jury selected to preside over and speak for all the jurors on the panel.
noun
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Gender-neutral form: supervisor. a person, often experienced, who supervises other workmen
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Female equivalent: forewoman. law the principal juror, who presides at the deliberations of a jury
noun
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
- foremanship noun
- subforeman noun
- subforemanship noun
Etymology
Origin of foreman
1175–1225; Middle English forman chief servant, steward. See fore-, man
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.
And after she came back to California and got married, she and her husband, the Rindge ranch foreman, started up a Guernsey milk business that became one of the biggest dairy operations in the world.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2026
Instead, only the foreman signed off on it — the legal equivalent of pulling a fast one on the judicial process.
From Salon • Dec. 14, 2025
My father, Rudy, was the foreman at Associated Transport, a huge trucking company with a branch in Richmond that went bankrupt.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025
Ivan Smith, foreman of Works at Newbridge House and Traditional Farm, said the team was "absolutely shocked" by the incident.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2025
Viju’s father, Viju, and the bricklayer backed away to make room for Gupta, but the foreman didn’t budge.
From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins
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.
