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

In February, just weeks after the presidential inauguration in Washington, Africa’s leaders will meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to elect a new chairperson of the AU Commission.

From BBC

She said an interim chairperson had been appointed.

From BBC

Tim Lowe, the chairperson of the school's board of governors, said some parents will not be able to afford the increase.

From BBC

More than 1,200 people have signed an open letter to Yvette Vaughan Jones, the chairperson of the WNO board, calling on her to intervene with WNO management to save jobs in the company’s chorus.

From BBC

The youngest and first female chairperson to lead Sebi, she became the first chief to have come from a private corporate background.

From BBC