keyman

[ kee-man ]

noun

, plural key·men.

1. a person highly important or essential to the functioning of an organization, as the head of a sales force or branch office.

Word History and Origins

Origin of keyman¹

First recorded in 1850–55; key ¹ + man

Example Sentences

“Most of my colleagues are making fun of this, they’re not worried,” said Keyman Guan, whose robotics company continued its anniversary in a nearby building hours after the evacuation on Tuesday.

From Reuters

The effort helped shorten YouIBot’s ability to deliver a robot to one month from three for the subway system in the adjacent city of Guangzhou, said Keyman Guan, YouIbot’s marketing director.

From New York Times

“It’s running right now in the luggage hall,” says YouiBot’s Keyman Guan, “checking body temperature in the day, and it goes virus killing during the night.”

From The Guardian

She was known as the Lady Manhunter, or the Key Woman of the Keyman, “keyman” being a nickname for a treasury agent, similar to G-Man in the FBI.

From National Geographic

“It is impossible for either the Turkish state or the PKK to take a step without considering developments in Syria,” said Fuat Keyman, an international relations professor at Sabanci University in Istanbul who advised the government during peace talks.

From Wall Street Journal