chairperson

[ chair-pur-suhn ]

noun

1. a person who presides over a meeting, committee, board, etc.
2. the administrative head of a department in a high school, college, or university.

chairperson

/ ˈtʃɛəˌpɜːsən /

noun

1. another word for chairman

Usage

See chairman

Gender Note

Chairperson has, since the 1960s, come to be used widely as an alternative to either chairman or chairwoman. This change was motivated largely by a desire to avoid chairman, which was felt to be inappropriate and even sexually discriminatory when applied to a woman. Chairperson is standard in all varieties of speech and writing. Despite such widespread acceptance, some organizations and publications do not use chairperson at all, usually on the grounds that it is awkward and that chairman is a well-established generic term. Many style guides advocate use of the term chair to designate the presiding officer, thus avoiding charges of both sexism and awkwardness: Jim will be chair of the entertainment committee this year, and Jane will be chair next year. -man, -person, -woman.

Other Words From

• chairperson·ship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of chairperson¹

First recorded in 1970–75; chair(man) + -person

Example Sentences

Ian Hogarth, the former cofounder of concert discovery app Songkick and now a prominent angel and seed investor, is joining Phasecraft’s board as chairperson.

From Fortune

When he resigned and became the chairperson, his wife took over as director.

From Ozy

The state’s Republican senators and assembly members largely oppose legalization, and the party’s county chairpersons in September passed a resolution to oppose the ballot question.

From Fortune

That includes the chairperson of the House Natural Resources Committee, Raúl Grijalva.

From Outside Online

At Politifest, Fletcher confirmed that if the Democrats take control of the County Board of Supervisors, they will take control of the chairperson role and be able to decide on the direction.

From Voice of San Diego

The chairperson at Doe's disciplinary was faculty member Dennis Conway.

From The Daily Beast

Art is resistance, said Freedom Theater chairperson Bilal Saadi.

From The Daily Beast

My candidate for Fed chairperson would be Janet Yellen, who runs the San Francisco Fed.

From The Daily Beast