anchorman

American  

[ang-ker-man, -muhn] / ˈæŋ kərˌmæn, -mən /

noun

plural

anchormen

1. Sports. anchor.

2. Radio and Television. anchor.

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anchorman British  

/ ˈæŋkəmæn /

noun

1. sport the last person in a team to compete, esp in a relay race

2. Also called: anchor.   presenter.  (in broadcasting) a person in a central studio who links up and maintains contact with various outside camera units, reporters, etc

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Gender

Is anchorman gender-neutral? See -man.

Etymology

Origin of anchorman

First recorded in 1910–15 anchorman for def. 1; 1955–60 anchorman for def. 2; anchor + -man

Explanation

An anchorman is a television news reporter. An anchorman typically reports from a news studio, reading the news from behind a desk. You can use the words anchorman and anchorwoman to talk about studio-based TV newscasters, but it's becoming more common to use one word to refer to either a man or a woman. News anchor or just anchor are increasingly common names for an anchorman. In the early 20th century, an anchorman was "the last man on a tug-of-war team," but by 1958 the word described a news presenter on TV or radio.

Example Sentences

It also offered the chance to try out formats beyond the deadpan anchorman behind a desk riffing on news of the day.

From Salon • Jun. 25, 2025

Back to the Nou Camp and it was the anchorman Sergio Busquets who popped up with a tap-in to level the aggregate scores.

From BBC • May 6, 2025

A brash young anchorman for the ABC affiliate, Michael Tuck, took on the newspaper in an editorial segment.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 20, 2024

He did away with the staid, usually white anchorman delivering the news and switched to two anchors, often a man and a woman.

From New York Times • Oct. 7, 2022

When the anchorman came back on, he was cracking up.

From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor