Whitaker

American  

[hwit-uh-ker, wit-] / ˈʰwɪt ə kər, ˈwɪt- /

noun

1. a male given name.

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Whitaker British  

/ ˈwɪtəkə /

noun

1. Sir Frederick. 1812–91, New Zealand statesman, born in England: prime minister of New Zealand (1863–64; 1882–83)

2. Forrest (Steven) , born 1961, US actor and film director; his films include (as actor) Ghost Dog (1999) and The Last King of Scotland (2006); (as director) Waiting to Exhale (1995)

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Example Sentences

At age 39, Jordan joins a small circle of Black actors who have won the prestigious best actor Oscar, after Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith.

From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026

"I stand here because of the people who came before me - Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith," he said.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

“Rodney Whitaker was like Le Carré,” Mr. Winslow told this newspaper back then, “but more tongue-in-cheek.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

Doctors like Mel King, whose neurodivergence manifests as open, radical caring and diagnostic precision, or Whitaker, who was revealed to be unhoused himself at the end of his first season baptism by disaster.

From Salon • Jan. 8, 2026

But the most important thing about Mr. Whitaker is that he was always in the street trying to bust up gangs and keep police from doing crazy stuff around here.

From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds