chairperson
chairperson Lexical Profile
chairperson Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The presiding officer of a meeting, committee, board, or organization, or the head of an academic department.
"The chairperson called the annual board meeting to order and introduced the first agenda item."
• verb
To act as the chairperson of or preside over (a meeting, committee, or organization).
"She was asked to chairperson the bipartisan commission investigating the regulatory changes."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Chairperson' and 'chair' are widely used in modern professional and institutional contexts as gender-neutral alternatives to 'chairman' and 'chairwoman'. Its plural form may be either 'chairpersons' (preferred in formal and legal writing) or 'chairpeople'.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 1970s as a gender-neutral compound combining 'chair' (used metonymically since the 17th century for a seat of authority or the person occupying it) and 'person'.